Beast Queen
by SeaDevil
Summary: Torn between different aspects of her life and mind, Tigris is trying to find herself; something which may be harder than it seems in a future in which the very definition of "human" is up for the question. :/: OC story set a couple of years after the main 1/2 Prince storyline.
1. A Crown for the Demon

****Note: As of 8/2 – 2013 this chapter was replaced with a new, modified, and MUCH better version. Well, at least according to me.****

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><p><strong>Disclaimer<strong>**: Yu Wo is the genius, not me.**

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><p>Chapter 1:<p>

A Crown for the Demon

I yawned contentedly where I was laying on my bed, still warm after my training session and shower, and was just about to fall asleep when a high-pitched ringing pierced my ears, making me wince.

I hated that bloody bell; both what it meant and how it seemed to drive daggers into my head, so I allowed myself a small annoyed growl into my pillow before I let my face revert back to its usual emotionless state and rose from the bed.

Knowing how much tardiness was frowned upon, I quickly crossed my bare room. It was coloured in different shades of grey and white, and held only the most necessary furnishings. The bathroom I stepped into to conceal my real self – my yellow eyes behind blue lenses, my bruises, scars, and splotchy markings behind face-mask – was the same. Bland colours and nothing there that I didn't need. I gave myself a quick once-over in the mirror to make sure that all the visible marring of my skin had been masked and that the bandages and band-aids I was currently wearing were in good condition before I stepped back out into the main room and pulled on today's prescribed clothes.

Smoothing out some wrinkles in the shirt and putting my dyed caramel-brown hair up in a high ponytail – my black and white roots would start showing soon, but not yet – I walked up to the metal door guarding the entrance to my little basement lair and waited for it to open.

It did so just a second later, sliding open soundlessly and revealing the concrete steps beyond.

Stepping out beyond the threshold, I carefully let my thoughts go blank as I traversed the luxurious and stylish building. I kept to the shadows the entire time, trying to avoid contact with anyone so that I wouldn't have to act, and not just look like, the princess. I could, of course, play my part perfectly if I needed to, but I didn't exactly like doing it when I didn't have to.

As I reached a familiar heavy mahogany door, engraved with the family weapon – a horse prancing on a ball so small it could barely keep its hooves on it, ridiculus, really – I stepped in and bowed deeply after making sure that the door was properly shut. After all, if a servant passed by and saw the witch's "daughter" first bow to her and then, after permission was given, walk forward to fall to her knees in front of her desk, who knew what strange rumours would begin? Gossip of that sort was not something she would tolerate, this woman who would probably rather die than admit that she gave birth to me.

I have had many empty laughs over the fact that despite our technologically advanced world and all our knowledge, people like her still exists.

People who believe that the second twin has to be an evil demon, a changeling, just because she has mottled black and white hair, dark splotches marring her skin and slitted yellow eyes.

What makes it all so much worse is that she believes this in spite of the fact that she _knows_ that babies like me, while rare in comparison to the ones born completely malformed and incapable of living, aren't all that unusual when both sides of the family have gone in and illegally messed with their genes, and are, in fact, the reason people aren't supposed to do that, other than the more immediate consequences if something goes wrong in the operation.

But enough of my rambling. Let us return to the situation at hand, shall we?

The witch was silent as I knelt before her.

She always was, at least for a time. So I waited, knowing that she would address me when she felt like doing so, and not a second sooner.

But as usual, I could not keep my thoughts and emotions still for long in her presence, and anger and fear started to rear their ugly heads like some kind of twisted monster. I would like nothing more than to tear her head off of those bony shoulders of hers, or just turn and run, run for as far as my legs would take me, but at the same time... I would never be able emotions were so strong that they nearly tore me apart every time they showed themselves, but I still knew that I would never be able to act on them.

I could not.

Because another part of me, a purer, nicer part of me, still had the need for her approval and affection, a longing for the warm embrace of a woman who hurt me.

That, in itself, was enough for a familiar feeling of self-loathing to rise to the surface. I was pathetic. Not even my own mother loved me. And I should hate her for it.

God knows I want to. I want to hate her so desperately.

But as long as that part of me still clings on to that feeble hope of that she might not be so bad, that she might love me, I cannot. Even the fact that I call her a witch is just a part of my desperate tries to _make_ myself hate her.

Make myself feel a feeling that isn't really there. Or is there, but can never win. I almost wanted to laugh at myself. _I'm really pathetic, aren't I? Despite all she did – and still does – I, or at least part of me, still considers her as my mother, a part of my family, just as surely as the princess, ogre or that idiot knight._

_No, Theron is not an idiot. He is my brother. He loves me for who I am, and thinks that I am just as much of a human as he is._

_But that could, on the other hand, be the very definition of idiocy._

No matter what I thought about the matter, however, the fact was that the mention of the idiot knight had calmed me down, letting me go back to waiting calmly.

Sooner or later, the witch would talk.

Until then, I would wait.

I settled down and listened, letting my eyes drift out of their previous focus on the emerald and sapphire carpet beneath me. There came a faint whirr from the air conditioner and an angry shout from somewhere inside the house. Footsteps passing by. A muffled conversation. Her breathing. My breathing. Her heartbeat. Mine slowing down to match hers.

My trance was broken when she spoke, leaving me unaware about just how much time had passed. Her orders were simple and to the point, as always.

"Sleep in my daughter's bed tonight. Kill."

I made a mental wince. I had hoped that I would get a little longer reprieve than this before a new mission came up so that my wounds from the last one would have time to heal. No such luck, apparently; and it wasn't as if I could say: "I'm sorry, but could I pass this time?", because these missions were the only reason she hadn't had me killed at birth. Cheery thought, right? The doctor/mad scientist now hiding out the basement had run a genetic analysis of me and my sister, and come to the conclusion that while my colouring and physical abilities would differ from the princess', we would otherwise be identical.

So they let me live, and raised me as a body double, a copy, of the princess, who would be able to take her place when things got dangerous, which they undeniably did when one came from a family such as ours. Very rich and famous, yes, but also with a _lot_ of enemies.

I gave myself a mental shake, reminding myself of my current situation, and responded to the witch's order, voice even and void of emotions.

"Yes, my lady."

Then I simply went back to waiting. Even if I had already received my instructions, leaving without permission was not looked upon kindly, and besides, she might have something more to say.

She didn't.

"Be gone."

I stood up and bowed deeply before making my way over to the door and letting myself out into the corridor again.

The walk back to my room went by quickly as I turned over this latest mission in my head. I was operating on a minimum of information, either because the witch herself didn't know much, or because she hadn't deemed it necessary for me to know any more than my orders.

Which was highly likely.

Whatever her reason, though, it meant that I didn't know how many intruders there would be, nor what kind of weapons they preferred, or even what their goal was – kidnap or kill? This made putting up a plan somewhat more difficult, but as I stepped back inside my admittedly drab room, I had one that had a pretty high chance of working out.

I was just about to go over it again to polish up some details for myself when I noticed something out of place in my room.

More specifically, something was laying on my bed, and I hadn't put it there.

For normal people, that would probably not have been so terribly odd, but for me it was. The people who had access to this room could be counted on one hand, and out of that handful, I had been talking to one, two were on a business trip together and the last was probably busy getting her nails manicured or something...

So how in the blue blazes did a _present_, of all things, end up in my room?

Well, the fact that it was a present meant that it had to have _something_ to do with the idiot knight, but still... he was supposed to be away with the ogre in a neighbouring city, negotiating some kind of contract... He hadn't been too specific.

This probably had less to do with the fact that he didn't want me to know what he was doing, and more to do with how things that didn't interest him seemed to have a hard time sticking around in his head.

A smile blossomed on my face at the thought of my sweet, scatterbrained and optimistic brother.

Don't underestimate him just because I said that, though. Theron is extremely smart, and a strategist. If he wanted something to happen, it would – and sooner rather than later.

That in mind, I figured that maybe the present's appearance wasn't so improbable after all, considering it _was_ my naming day today.

That's right. Not birthday. Naming day.

The naming day celebrates the anniversary of the day Theron gave me a name back when I was six years old. I hadn't had one before then.

We came to the compromise of celebrating that instead of my birthday when he had realized that I didn't like my birthday much and he still had wanted me to celebrate _something_.

I had always thought that he had done that mostly just so that he could have an excuse to give me presents, no matter how hard I found it to receive them; I could never give him anything in return, after all.

Knowing how hurt he would be if I didn't open his present, though, I walked up to my bed and sat down next to it. It was wrapped in red gift wrap, and tied with a black wrapping string. The whole thing looked rather... ungainly, and had more tape than it should, leading me to believe that he had done it himself.

This thought made me all the more reluctant to open it – the thought of him putting down so much effort into something he didn't seem to know how to do, just for my sake, and me just ripping all that effort apart. Because that looked like the only way I would be able to open it – through force. There was almost more tape than there was wrapping, if I had to be honest.

Staring uneasily at it, I noticed a white envelope laying next to it. I almost pounced on the chance to postpone the ripping until later and quickly snatched it up.

Opening it carefully, I dug up a birthday card featuring a very cute pile of tiger cubs. I smiled and shook my head. Every year, he found a tiger-themed card for me, honouring the name he had given me. The precious memory echoed through my head.

"_I know! Your name can be Tigris! 'Cause tigers are strong, and pretty, like you, and you even have tiger-stripes and tiger-eyes!"_

Even then, I had protested that the dark markings covering my body didn't look even the slightest bit like tiger-stripes, but he hadn't listened to me.

_Still doesn't, for that matter._

I shook my head and flipped the card over to read his message.

_Hi Tigris! Sorry I couldn't deliver this to you personally, but I barely made it inside the gates before dad shipped me off to another boring meeting... Anyway, happy naming day! I think I've found you __the perfect present. Actually, I was stupid not to think about it earlier. Read the instructions and __other stuff in the second envelope carefully before you do anything! (It's inside the present, so don't __go looking for it on your bed and think that I forgot it – I didn't!) I'll be back in three days or so to see how you like it! Take care of yourself until then, OK? /Theron_

I smiled at his worrying and at the messy handwriting cramped in on the small card, the words getting smaller and smaller toward the end, as if he had realized that he was running out of room. His signature was cramped in sideways, almost wedged in between two words.

Then I re-read it and frowned. What could he possibly have given me that required instructions?

Looking over at the present laying beside me again, I sighed. He had probably written that on purpose, to get me curious enough to open it. He knew about both my aversion for present-opening and my curious nature.

__I give up. I never win against that idiot knight.__

I picked up the red package and put it in my lap. After staring at something that might just as well have been named "The Impenetrable Tape Fortress of Doom" for a few seconds, I began to pull off the wrapping string. That was the easiest part, so it made sense to start with that. But once it was finally off, I had come to the dark realization that "easiest" may not actually mean "easy".

Glaring at the Tape Fortress of Doom – if it had been that hard to pull off the damn string, I didn't like thinking about how hard the rest of it would be to open – I seriously considered going into my training room to fetch something sharp and pointy to open it with.

__But... There might b____e something fragile underneath. I don't want to harm it.__

With an irritated puff of air, I blew my fringe out of my eyes and got started.

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><p>Much frustration and many curses and rants later, I finally managed to get the wrapping off.<p>

Just so you can get a picture of exactly how bad it had been: when I began, the package had been lumpy and even slightly round, but when all the wrapping had come off, I was left with a square cardboard box and a thick envelope.

Turning said box over in my hands (it had landed with its bottom, and therefore only a bunch of very small letters, facing me), I read the blazing words_Second Life__,_ and then, in a smaller style beneath it,_ Beast Crown._

Artfully arranged about the writing were a bunch of pictures, featuring landscapes and creatures I was sure didn't exist.

__What is this?__ I wondered with a frown and reached for the envelope. The idiot had said that I should read the contents of the envelope first, right? Maybe he had included some kind of explanation...

Opening the envelope and emptying its contents over the bed, I felt my eye twitch. What was up with all these__papers___?_ There had to be hundreds of them. OK, maybe not __hundreds___,_ but certainly very, very many.

_This had better be good, idiot knight, and not just another joke of yours, because if it is, I'm definitely gonna clobber you._

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><p><strong>To those curious souls who wonder about where this story stands in relation to <strong>**_½ Prince_****:**

**I will be fetching my inspiration mostly from the novels, but since I have read the manhua, elements from that may sneak in here and there.**

**_Beast Queen_**** is set three years after the main story is finished. In other words, after volume 8 (about which I have to ask: did anyone else read the epilogue? Only in ****_½ Prince_****, I say. Only in ****_½ Prince_****). ****I'll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, though, and will warn about them in the beginning ****of the chapters they show up in.**

**This story is an OC story. The real ****_½ Prince_**** characters will be in it, that much I can tell you, but they will not be playing any major roles, so they won't show up much. If you feel that you absolutely MUST have a specific scene involving someone in the original cast, however, I am open to ideas. Write a review or PM me about it and I can discuss it with you. If the idea is good, I might use it.**

**I think that is all. For now, anyway. Please review! Constructive criticism is welcomed.**


	2. Thoughts on a Mission

**Note: As of 8/2 – 2013 this chapter was replaced with a new, modified, and MUCH better version. Well, at least according to me.**

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><p><strong>And I feel like I have to transfer these thanks from the old version:<strong>

**Thanks Vendelareader and bokpricken for being my first reviewers and adding me to your favs – you made SeaDevil very, very, VERY happy! Hugs for you!**

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><p><strong>This chapter is quite slow in the beginning, but please bear with me, OK? There'll be action in the end ^^<strong>

**WARNING: Yeah, I figured that I should put one of these here. There is a minor spoiler in this chapter for volume... ummm... 7? Yeah, I think that it's 7. Anyway, other than that, THERE WILL BE VIOLENCE in this chapter. Just so you know.**

**Disclaimer: As much as I'd like to, I don't own ½ Prince... IT'S NOT FAIR!**

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><p>Chapter 2:<p>

Thoughts on a Mission

I was letting my thoughts wander. Not a wise thing to do, of course, while expecting an attack, but I figured that since the intruders would probably not come until their target had "fallen asleep" and the princess' normal evening routines really didn't require all that much mental capacity, I could afford it.

...well, maybe not, but the subject of my thoughts was interesting enough that I accepted the risk that came with day-dreaming while on a mission. Normally, I would not do that, no matter how small the risk that came with it was, but then again, I normally didn't have all that much to think about.

But I certainly did now. The game that the idiot knight had given me... it was amazing. He had been right in what he had written on the card: it was the perfect present. It was all that I could ever have wished for, and even despite my reluctance regarding gifts, if I had known it existed earlier, I would have asked him to get it for me.

That I hadn't known about it was actually quite strange, given the information I now had thanks to him filling that second envelope with notes and newspaper articles to brief me on the things surrounding the game that didn't stand in the manual.

_Second Life_ is a virtual reality system with an extreme popularity. Even after a sharp decline in the number of players due to a serious misuse of the system by one of the designers, nearly five out of ten play the game.

That I had not been briefed about this, even briefly, to prevent an embarrassing situation in which the "princess" didn't know about something so common was strange. Even stranger, though, was the fact that the game had never been mentioned in front of me when I played the princess, despite the fact that it was a popular conversation topic (at least according to the information I got from the idiot knight). Taking that into consideration, _Second Life_ should at least have been mentioned in passing a time or two, but I had no recollection of something like that ever happening.

Mulling that over for a while, I decided to leave the issue until I had more information and started to go over what facts I had managed to gather about my present so far. I had not made my way through the entire pile of texts yet, of course – there had been too little time – but I had nevertheless built myself a basic understanding of the game.

When it first came, the consoles had been pretty clumsy helmet-like devices, but to regain some of the players they lost during the turmoil surrounding the misuse of the game, the _Second Life_ company had started a major campaign to regain popularity and trust. The three most obvious parts of this campaign had been a great number of new patches to make gameplay even more interesting, the company just about pouring money into advertising and the re-designing of the old helmets.

The design-change had left the previously cumbersome objects with completely different appearance than they had had before. The new model was light and unobtrusive, looking more like a simple band of metal than a helmet. As a part of that development, there had, of course, been prototypes. These prototypes had aimed even higher than the current design, and really looked more like head-accessories than gaming consoles. However, they had cost too much to manufacture to go with sufficient profit, even with the mass-produce that would be necessary, both to meet demands and to cut down on the material costs. Thus, they had been simplified until they had reached the final design of metal bands which combined looks, functionality and cost.

But the fourteen prototypes that had been constructed were still fully functional. Not wanting them to go to waste, and seeing a chance of tempting more people into buying the new console, the _Second Life_ company declared that they would distribute these prototypes, which they had dubbed "crowns", by giving them as a prize to fourteen randomly chosen buyers of the new "helmet" model. A slightly nicer looking console may not seem like much of a lottery prize, but that was only if you disregarded the privileges that came with them. _Second Life_ had namely promised three wishes to those that managed to acquire one of them, whether they already had an account or not; something that had induced a buying-frenzy amongst their customers, just as calculated.

Because something like that, no matter how childish it may seem at first, is nothing to disregard; the user need only say what he or she wanted, and the company would grant it to them. If the user desired start at level 200, for a legendary weapon, or for the strongest type of pet existing in the game, they would get it. You could even wish for things the game did not usually allow: gender changes, mixed races, a completely new specie, special abilities that didn't exist or even an infinite amount of money. Looking at it this way, those wishes were insanely powerful, and nothing to laugh at at all.

Indeed, at first there had even been massive protests against the company giving that kind of power away to a select few – it would be just the same as cheating, and would disturb the balance of the game, players all over the globe complained. Of course, that did not stop them from rushing to the stores, trying to acquire one of the crowns for themselves. There were even those who bought several "helmets", just to increase the chance of themselves getting a "winning ticket".

This was also the reason that the crowns' appearance were kept secret from the public. If people knew how they looked, things could get ugly. They would be stolen, copied, false versions would start circulating, and in the end, the _Second Life_ company would get blamed for everything.

At first, before I remembered the exact nature of my present, I had wondered about why the idiot knight had bothered to include such thorough information on the crowns in the envelope; in fact, the only thing he didn't mention was something that I didn't get to know until later, when I had opened the game box and discovered a special pamphlet, detailing limits set on the wishes you got from the crowns.

I had, by the way, been quite puzzled when I opened the box and saw the _Beast Crown_ for the first time – because it didn't look like a crown at all. Or even a gaming console. More like a leather band meant to be tied around the head, decorated with feathers, bone-and-silver beads and some kind of animal teeth dangling off the ends. How they had managed to hide all that cutting-edge technology inside of _that_, I have no idea. But I digress. We were talking about the limits on the wishes, right?

Apparently, each of the crowns had an "element" fitting their design. I am a bit dubious about saying elements in this instance because the crown-elements went far beyond the usual water, earth, fire and air. Or water, wood, metal, earth and fire, whichever model you prefer. The crown-elements consist of the following, one for each crown. They were: Water, Earth, Fire, Air, Metal, Lightning, Beast, Light, Darkness, Plant, Ice, Psychic, Sound and lastly; Empathy.

The wishes are linked to these elements. You have to make at least one wish that strongly relates to your crown's element, otherwise all the wishes would become null and void. That the idiot knight had not included this in his notes led me to believe that it was not common knowledge, as he had been very thorough otherwise. As usual.

But this was, as I said earlier, something I did not discover until I actually opened the package. Before that, I read the name _Beast Crown_ on the box and wanted nothing more than to re-wrap the thing and return it to the idiot, no matter how upset that would have made him. Why, do you ask? Simple. The amount of luck needed to acquire one of the crowns was so enormous that he had most likely had had to spend unimaginable amounts of money to get his hands on the console. And as I mentioned before, I don't like him giving me gifts because I will never be able to give anything in return. And then something of this magnitude shows up. Isn't it understandable that my first reflex would be to reject it? However, there was (and is – I still haven't quite gotten over the enormity of this gift) one thing holding me back; the one piece of fact that is unavoidable when one reads about _Second Life_, something I mentioned in passing earlier; it is a virtual reality game.

The term is not just for show, and neither is the title. In that world, which mimicks the real one to 99%, I would be able to start over and become my own person, free from all the binds placed upon me in this world. I could get a new life inside the game.

At that point, I forcefully stopped my train of thought. It would do me no good to get my hopes up in vain. The game might not meet all the praise showered down upon it. And even if it did... _No, I'll have to think about this later – right now I have to focus_, I reprimanded myself. I had finished the princess' evening rituals, and was about to climb into her bed. No distractions could be afforded from here on out. I emptied my mind and focused only on the here and now. My senses would give me all the information I needed to carry out this mission, but only if I paid proper attention.

Settling down beneath the soft and warm sky-blue blanket, I closed my eyes. The comfort level of this bed was miles above mine, but I couldn't let that distract me or lull me into sleep. A mistake at this point could very well mean death. I had no illusions there.

Taking a deep breath and holding it for a second before slowly letting it out through my mouth, I started focusing on my senses, trying to find a trace of the intruder. It was unlikely that whoever it was would show up quite yet, but better safe than sorry.

The soft moonlight of the waxing, almost full, moon filtered through my eyelids from the large, floor-to-ceiling windows covering an entire wall of the room, and the sounds of the night-time Grane household whispered in my ears. I concentrated on those for a while, trying to detect any anomalies. Failing to do so, I moved on to my sense of smell. I let my mouth fall open slightly, to let the sense of taste support my nose. It was something I had discovered a long time ago, that the sense of taste, generally thought of as useless unless one was eating, could be used to strengthen the sense of smell. Not discovering anything unusual there either, I started over again, ignoring the sense of touch as I would not feel much of the air currents going around the room while buried under a blanket.

It didn't take long before I grew thankful of the fact that the princess always slept on her back on an insanely fluffy pillow that almost felt like it was trying to suffocate me as it folded around my head. It was a sleeping position I found extremely uncomfortable; something very good in this situation, as it was preventing me from falling asleep.

Even so, I had become drowsy before I finally heard soft footsteps, followed by two soft _clicks_ of the door opening and closing (the hinges were well oiled – they would not creak) before the footsteps resumed. The person was at least moderately skilled, capable of muffling their movements and breathing. The sounds stopped just to the right of the closet, in the corner to the left of the door. It took a while for me to understand the reason for this, as it usually would be seen as better to stop by the door or the windows, until I remembered the hidden passage providing an alternate way out of this room that was hidden there. _Someone has done their research,_ I thought and allowed myself a brief feeling of grudging admiration for whatever person it had been. I didn't know much about this family's security system, but what I did know told me that finding out about that passage was a great feat, indeed.

Hearing a rustle of clothes and a very quiet creaking sound, I quickly dismissed my thoughts and rolled out of bed just as a muffled _bam_ filled the room. I landed on my hands and the balls of my feet on the other side of the bed, using it as cover. I dully noted a piercing pain in my right forearm while I shrugged off the restricting blanket. Taking a quick glance at it, I saw that the bullet had entered my flesh before shattering and tearing it open from the inside – the projectile must have been an expanding bullet – leaving an ugly wound. I knew that it would need to be taken care of as soon as possible, seeing as the metal shrapnel could do immense damage to my tissue if left alone, but for now there was nothing I could do about it, so I pressed the pain to the back of my mind and ignored the wound.

What was important now was that the intruder was eliminated.

I reached under the bed to the holster hidden there and drew the pistol within, undoing the security latch as I pulled it closer. I do not like gunfights, they are way too messy for my taste, but that doesn't mean that I don't know how to handle shooting weapons. I briefly wondered about why my opponent hadn't chosen a knife for this – they were silent, couldn't be traced like guns could once you recovered the bullet (or the pieces which were left of it, anyway) they easier hit vital spots and they could be poisoned, just in case the initial hit wasn't effective. And if this person had planned to kill the princess in her sleep anyway, the range the gun gave didn't matter – it would have been easy to just sneak up to her and slit her throat. Well, if it had been the real her, anyway. The fact that the would-be assassin used expanding bullets somewhat compensated for the choice of weapon, but...

Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I breathed in to steady myself before letting the air go, calming my frantic mind. This person had the advantage of knowing exactly where I was and being in a prepared shooting position, ready to shoot at a moment's notice, while I only had a rough idea of where my opponent was, had to take a position from where I was crouched behind the bed and then shoot after I had confirmed my enemy's exact location. That brief interval between where I emerged from my cover and shot could be lethal. In this situation, I could only rely on my reflexes and that small advantage that this person had given me by not positioning themselves behind some kind of cover. _Even so, I shouldn't even try to fire a lethal, or even maiming shot at first. The most important thing with that shot is that I hit, so that I can take advantage of the flinching to aim better. All of this relies on speed. I don't have the time to let myself aim the first shot properly._

That in mind, I tensed my muscles and senses, searching for the person's breathing and smell before swiftly launching myself up, and, steadying my arms on the bed, shot.

But mine wasn't the only gun that sounded. Two muffled bangs filled the room, one seemingly echoing the other. The other person's bullet missed me and hit a pillow instead, sending a flurry of white feathers across my vision. I did not know what had happened to my bullet, and I didn't have time to stop and wonder about it; I simply aimed as well as I could through the feathers and pulled the trigger again.

As the recoil hit my arms again, sending yet another shock of pain up my right arm, my opponent staggered, a leg buckling under the weight. Ignoring the pain, I shot again, and he – I saw the gender now as the feathers cleared away – staggered backwards, back hitting the wall. I didn't relent, however. My eyes had completely adjusted themselves to the light in the room now, and with a clear view of the man, getting a critical shot was no longer a problem, despite being wounded.

I hesitated for a second as faces of people long dead haunted me, and the man before me had time to brace himself against the wall and start to lift his gun toward me before the sound of my mother's voice echoed through my mind.

_Kill_.

Pulling the trigger one last time, my bullet pierced his forehead.

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><p><strong>Hug and cookie for reviewers! They are only virtual, of course, but they are still nice, right? Constructive criticism is still very much appreciated ^^<strong>


	3. Aftermath

****Note: As of 8/2 – 2013 this chapter was replaced with a new, modified, and MUCH better version. Well, at least according to me. The content of this chapter was previously written in chapter 2.****

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><p><strong>When I sent this chapter to my friends for proofreading, they called it fluff-angst. Do not really know what to think of that...<strong>

**WARNING: This chapter will contain disturbing themes including death, blood and gore. Read at your own discretion.**

**Disclaimer: I actually don't need one for this chapter! It makes me so happy, being able to call a piece of text entirely my own! :D**

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><p>Chapter 3:<p>

Aftermath

Mechanically, I lowered the pistol, latched the security back on and put it inside the hem of my pyjama pants so that I may still have easy access to it if I needed it. My thoughts were not on these actions, however. They remained with my eyes; glued to the other side of the room.

No matter how many times I saw death, I do not think that I would ever grow used to it. Desensitized, numb and uncaring maybe, but never used.

It was always a messy business, death. No matter what people or books said, there would never be something such as a "clean" death. It was ugly and sickening.

The man I had killed lay slumped against the bloody wall behind him. All my shots had hit; the first had grazed his upper right arm, the second had went through his right thigh and the third had pierced his left upper torso, tearing through his lung.

Then the forth shot, dripping red from the centre of his forehead. Blood, bone and brain matter stuck on the wall behind him.

I tore my eyes away from his rigid face, from those dim eyes staring at me.

_Brown. His eyes are brown._

I clenched my teeth.

_Pull yourself together, idiot! _I berated myself. There was still work left to do. I could not afford to dwell on something which was now in the past.

It is not, nor will it ever be, possible to alter the past.

Ignoring the body the best I could, I ripped off the hem of the blue pyjama shirt I was wearing and made a hasty bandage around my wounded forearm after plucking off some feathers which had become stuck in the blood. Tying it off with the help of my teeth, I inspected my handiwork. It was sloppy, and the knot would probably unravel at the first chance it got, but it would have to do, I decided. The metal pieces still needed to be removed from it, and an antiseptic needed to be applied, but for now, I would have to be satisfied with just stopping the bleeding, as the room still needed to be inspected; the man or some accomplice of his could have hidden away cameras or mikes, or another person could be lurking around somewhere.

I'd actually much rather have done this before I "went to bed", but since I had had to stick to the princess' behavioural patterns to keep away suspicion, I hadn't been able to do more than throw a cursory look around.

Now, however, I ran my hands along the pristinely white walls and the intricate wooden designs inlaid into the dark furniture, all the while having my senses trimmed, searching for even the slightest irregularity that would indicate that I was not the only one in the room.

My hands paused for the briefest of moments.

_Well, the only one still breathing, anyway._

Forcefully starting up my motions again and refocusing my thoughts on the task at hand, I soon completed my circuit around the room.

Well, almost.

There was still one corner left.

I tried to step toward it; I really did.

But I just couldn't.

There was an invisible barrier there, built of old guilt, shame, grief, anger and frustration.

_And I who was doing so well up until now,_ I thought with an internal sigh before almost laughing at myself. _Shit, who the hell am I trying to kid, anyway? It never worked before, so why the fuck did I think that it would this time?_

Giving up my inner fight, I took a deep breath.

Held it.

And let it go, imagining that it carried all of my emotions and irrelevant thoughts away with it.

It worked. I do not know why, but it always works.

I try not to use it, though.

The knight hates it when I do, so I've been trying to cope without it.

It is hard, but mostly I can manage, at least for a while, until the stress becomes too much.

Apparently, I had reached my limit today.

Holding on to your feelings in this line of work... it's dangerous. Not only do you start to hesitate, giving your opponent an opening in which they can counter or run away, but there is also the risk of your mind breaking. There is only so much a healthy human mind can accept before it starts to deteriorate.

But the idiot had once said that if I let go of my feelings, I would cease being me, and become nothing but the convenient tool the witch wanted me to be.

Personally, I did not mind much – it was only for a short while, anyway, and I would do what I was told anyway; so what did it matter if I did it with my feelings turned off? Things became easier that way. The nightmares were not as horrible afterwards, and the memories from those times became blurry, so I would not have to worry about them.

But that idiot brother of mine always knew when I had discarded my feelings, even if it had only been for a moment, and days had passed since. The worst thing was that he almost never became mad or upset with me over it ever since those first months we had known each other; no, he would just get this really sad look and then hug me tightly, before going on as usual, pretending as if nothing had happened.

The sad look would remain in his eyes for a good while, though.

I hated that look. It was as if he was blaming himself for my situation, and that was not something which I would allow him to do.

So I started trying to cope with my emotions instead of just locking them away.

_Theron is not supposed to look sad._

He was supposed to laugh, shout, be angry, run around, wildly gesticulate with excitement in his eyes as he explained something, childishly whine and complain, but never _ever_ be sad.

Theron was a being who was supposed to be filled with energy, and I always try to do all in my power to make sure he stays that way.

_But right now, I have to be selfish. I have to finish this assignment, and my emotions are hindering me from doing so._

I stepped forward and continued my inspection of the room and the corpse. Not finding anything out of place or useful in either of the places, I absently dried off the blood that had coloured my hands as I looked over the body on my pyjama pants and, after listening carefully, opened the secret passage.

It didn't take long until I could come to the conclusion that even if that man had had an accomplice hiding in the dark and narrow space, that person was now long gone. _I should have gone here first; then I might still have caught the person, if there was one._ I went out again and closed the door behind me, accepting that there was nothing I could do about it at this point in time.

I turned left, intending to make my way towards the bathroom situated right across from where I was standing - the wound on my forearm was throbbing along with my heartbeat, and blood had already penetrated the makeshift bandage, so I needed to take it off, clean the wound, and re-wrap it in something clean – but something stopped me.

Going over to the body, I straightened it out until it lay flat along the floor.

Crouching beside it, I observed this man's features.

He seemed to be around thirty and of a middling height. Black jeans and sweater, grey socks; one seemed to be inside-out. Brown eyes, brown hair. Bushy eyebrows, low cheekbones. Two birthmarks, one beneath the outer corner of his right eye, the other on the left cheek, close to the nose, which was slightly too big. Maybe not a face that would stand out amongst many, or even be remembered, but a face nonetheless.

I reached out with my left hand and closed his eyelids.

My hand then lingered there for a while, resting against cooling skin.

Drawing my arm back towards me, I rose and continued on to the bathroom.

The golden light that flooded the room upon my entrance – courtesy of a motion-sensor – nearly blinded me. Closing my eyes for a second, I watched the light from beneath my eyelids and let my eyes adjust somewhat. When I opened them again, the white and golden room still felt too bright, but at least the light didn't hurt my eyes now.

I do not know how long it took to clean the wound – a process which turned out to be quite messy and painful due to the shrapnel which had become stuck in my flesh – but as I finally tied off the new and fresh bandage (an extensive medical kit was stored in the room specifically for instances like this), I stood at a loss. In the morning, I would have to get dressed in the clothes laid out for me before laying my report and visiting Reyforth so that he could remove the shrapnel that I hadn't managed to get and see if I needed stitches.

But now?

What was I supposed to do now?

_Go to sleep_, I concluded after a few seconds. There likely wouldn't be another attempt as the princess' life tonight, and I needed sleep to be able to function properly.

Exiting the bathroom and closing the door behind me, relying on the motion sensor to turn off the light eventually, I made my way over to the bed.

It looked a right mess. The cover and blanket lay around haphazardly, twisted and half on the floor. One of the pillows had fallen to the floor, and another had broken, resulting in feathers laying around the whole room – they must have spread when I was walking around earlier. Two bullets had pierced the mattress, causing the cloth around their entry points to fray and revealing the yellow-white stuffing within. One had hit the place where my head had lain earlier this evening, causing me to wonder what the shooter had been thinking; the greatest aspect of the expanding bullets is that they do not need to hit a fatal point in order to kill. Taking that into consideration, it would have been better to aim for my torso; a bigger target that is much harder to miss.

Dismissing my musings – since I had neutralized the shooter, it did not matter much why he had aimed where he had – I continued my observation of the bed. The other bullet, the same one which had destroyed the pillow, had hit closer to the edge of the bed and at such an angle that some of the metal shrapnel left of it had exited on the other side of the mattress it had buried into. It was probably only a matter of luck that none of them had hit me while I was taking cover behind it.

I picked up the blanket from where it lay crumpled and shook it to rid it of most of the feathers, at least. The wind created by this action sent a flurry of white across the moonlit room.

One landed upon a now cold hand.

Turning my eyes away from the corpse, I gathered one of the four unharmed pillows, nestled into a corner of the bed, curled up half on my stomach and buried into the blanket.

I lay there for a while, mind blank, until I slowly started to get uncomfortable.

I turned around to lay on my other side.

The bathroom door could be seen from underneath the blanket now.

The lights inside had turned off.

I lay there, staring at the dark door ahead of me as the shadows slowly wandered across the room.

It got darker for a while as the moon set.

Then the sun rose, flooding the room with light, and soon thereafter the alarm started.

I still hadn't slept.

Rising, I turned off the alarm and dressed myself. Taking a quick detour to the bathroom I had spent the whole night staring at, I made sure that I, or rather the "Rizza" standing in front of me in the gilded full-body mirror, was presentable before heading out the door. Throwing a quick look behind me as I passed the doorframe, a whimsical thought crossed my mind. _I do not envy whoever it is that has to clean this up before the real princess gets back from wherever she spent the night._

But that thought process immediately turned sober, however, once my eyes were drawn over to the body, as if it were magnetic. _No, I do not envy them at all._

I closed the door behind me.

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><p><strong>I feel like I must say that when I started writing this, I did not think that it would turn out even half as heavy and angsty as it did. I feel like it ran away from me somewhere along the writing process... Oh, well, it turned out quite good in the end, so no use changing it.<strong>

**The offer of a virtual hug and cookie still stands for all reviewers, especially for those who are extra nice by being willing to lay down some of their time to help me improve myself by giving me constructive criticism ^^**


	4. Report and Relax

****Note: As of 8/2 – 2013 this chapter was replaced with a new, modified, and MUCH better version. Well, at least according to me. The content of this chapter was previously written in chapter 2.****

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><p><strong>WARNING: Nothing too serious this chapter, actually. There is some reflection on what happened last chapter, and her wound is taken care of, but nothing more than that... Or should I be warning about mad, talkative scientists? Maybe I should. Well, now you know. If you have a phobia for them, maybe you should skip some parts of this chapter.<strong>

**Disclaimer: I tried to forge the legal papers necessary by using some really pretty crayons, but unfortunately, the judge just laughed and threw them in the trash T-T I put down my soul in making those!**

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><p>Chapter 4:<p>

Report and Relax

Walking through the corridors towards the witch's office, I reviewed the night's events in my head and put the facts in order. The assignment would not be officially over until I had laid down my report, something she wanted done swiftly and precisely.

Thus, I always structured my speech before meeting the witch.

_I followed Rizza's evening rituals. Nothing happened until approximately 1 PM, when an intruder entered the room. He took up a position by the closet with the hidden passage – I suspect he might have known about it beforehand – and shot. The bullet hit my right forearm, but it doesn't matter._

_As long as the enemy is eliminated, nothing else matters, right?_

_Yes. Nothing else._

_The gun felt solid in my hand, and I shot. The feathers were in the way, but I shot._

_The familiar sense of recoil and pain travelling up my arm. How many times now? I don't know. I don't remember._

_I shot._

_Or do I? Do I remember? No, I don't._

_You don't, Kitten. You don't remember. Then, now. It's the same. Nothing has changed. You don't want to remember._

_Yes, I don't want to remember._

_And yet..._

_I shot._

_One, two, three, four._

_I shot._

_The enemy... Dead._

_Dead!_

_Blood._

_Red, spreading._

_Brown eyes, staring._

I stopped. In front of me was a heavy mahogany door. I blinked. _When did I get here? No matter. Take a deep breath, Tigris. Good. Now let it out. See? You feel much better now, don't you?_

My face revealing absolutely nothing, I entered the room and bowed. I stayed there, doubled over, gaze focused on the carpet until I perceived a motion just inside my field of vision. She had motioned me forward.

Straightening, I followed the blue-green path laid out before me. Arriving at the end, I fell to my knees before getting too close to the edge, where the black floor lay like an abyss between me and her.

Fixing my eyes on that line before me where soft carpet met hard, unyielding floor, where light met darkness, I heard her voice saying that phrase I had heard so many times before.

"Report."

And so I did, lining up the night's happenings for her. She appeared pleased with my actions and account of them, for after I was finished, she had nothing more to say than:

"Be gone."

I rose and bowed once more before leaving the room, heading toward Reyforth's office. The wound still needed to be looked over.

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><p>Reyforth's room was located in the basement, two floors above my room. It was easy to miss, and if you didn't know where and what it was, chances were that you would just pass it, and not even remember the white door five minutes later.<p>

I knew exactly where I was going, though, since I had been there many times before.

Stepping in and starting to breath more shallowly to escape the strong odours going around the room, I was met by the... _peculiar_ sight which was the place Vincent Reyforth (or Doc, as he would rather be called – he doesn't use his real name) had named his "den". It is about as big as a gymnastics hall, and littered with things that usually belonged in completely different places.

There are three beds in the room, a number of different kinds of chairs, armchairs, stools and other similar things, dozens of tables, clothes strewn all about the place, bookshelves filled to the brim, kitchen and washing appliances, weird instruments both big and small, enough plants to fill a jungle (at least half of them poisonous), weird jars filled with various things... well, you get the picture. It is a mess, mostly because the disorderly owner uses it as both a living area, laboratory, storage, greenhouse, office and examination room.

I followed the snores and found Reyforth sleeping with his arms and head draped over the back of a blue office chair on the metal walkway situated above some of his suspicious-looking plants. Walking up to him, I shook one of his shoulders to wake him, causing him to groan and fall off of his chair.

He stared at me for a few seconds, pupils trying to adjust to the sudden onslaught of harsh light prevalent throughout his "den". Finally identifying me, he got to his feet – or rather, he tried to, as the action sent him rolling off the walkway and onto the greenery below. Jumping up, he got one plant stuck inside the waistband of his scruffy jeans. Clambering back up onto the walkway and plucking it out, he exclaimed:

"Ah! How nice to see you here! I was just about to ask Lilith to send you here, but it appears as if I didn't have to... Can you hold this?" I didn't move from my position. It was wiser not to touch anything in this room, if you could help it. "Don't worry," he continued, "it looks similar another, poisonous one, but it is really quite harmle-" breaking himself off in the middle of his sentence, he brought the plant closer and gave it a focused stare. "Or is it? They really are very similar, and I planted them next to each other, after all..." Snatching a leaf from the plant, he put it in his mouth, chewed and swallowed. "No, it's the safe one." Then, completely forgetting that he had wanted me to hold it, he threw it away. "The poisonous one tastes much better."

The kind-faced doctor started walking, straightening out his wrinkled shirt as he went. The previously white garment was full of different odd blotches of colour, and ripped or burnt through in places, showing the moss-green t-shirt underneath; not that that was in a much better condition.

"Come now, this isn't the place to talk. You're injured, no? The arm? Yes, yes, we'll fix that. You'll be as good as new in no time, especially with that exceptional healing ability of yours. Did you know that that is extremely uncommon, by the way? I've only met a few other specimens with an ability as good as yours. All have it to _some_ extent, of course, but as I said, not as good. None in the older generation has it at that level – my theory is that inheriting genome from several earlier generations of GMH – ah, that is; Genetically Modified Humans, as opposed to HBD, Humans Born Different... silly term, that. Doesn't sound very professional – I wonder who came up with it? No matter. What was I saying? Oh, yes, my theory. I believe that inheriting modified genome through several generations increase the probability of some abilities in HBD, one of them being impressive healing speed. What I'm curious about now, however, is if the ability shortens the owner's lifespan or not; cells have a limited lifespan and possible number of replications, after all. I'm also working on seeing if the ability can be bred forth in some way, as I already know that that isn't something you can just go in and modify – no, the mutations are much too complicated for that... But here I am, prattling on, when I've got a patient! Excuse my manners, it is just that you are so very fascinating that it gets my thoughts running. Here, sit."

As Reyforth talked, he had woven through the room, gesticulating wildly all the while. He had stopped at a seemingly random point, and was now pushing me down onto a wooden three-legged stool next to a grey table laden with jars full of odd-looking substances.

"Let's see that wound."

Unravelling the bandage, he gave a low whistle.

"So, a gun this time? But this really is ugly; expanding bullet, no? You're lucky it hit your arm. Nasty business, these, tearing up their targets from the inside. Don't worry, though. I'll have it all out of you in a jiffy." He was angling my arm this way and that, trying to get a better look at the patch of mangled skin. "The other guy must have been skilled, to be able to get you like this with those senses of yours – either that, or you are getting sloppy... now that I think about it, you have been getting hurt an awful lot recently. Do you feel some kind of sickness coming on? If there is, you'll have to tell me immediately, you know. I won't stand for loosing my best research subject to something as silly as a germ or virus. Just wait a sec, I need to fetch a couple of things. Hold that arm high in the meantime." He took my arm and dragged it up above my head. "There! Now hold it there until I get back."

Hustling away around a fridge, he disappeared from my line of sight. I followed him with my hearing, though, as he meandered around, opened a few boxes and rifled around in them before starting to walk back.

Appearing again in my line of vision, Reyforth was carrying an aid kit. He put it down upon reaching the table and started looking through the jars, twisting and turning them, appearing to be looking for something. Finding it, he held up a jar full of green liquid.

"Aha! This is what I was looking for! Did you know that most disinfectants on the market really are quite insufficient? It had been getting on my nerves for quite some time, so this week I finally got around to manufacturing my own."

Untwisting the lid and putting it aside, he first immersed his own hands before moving on to a scalpel, a pair of pincers, a thread and a bent needle. Strangely enough, everything was completely dry when he pulled it up.

"That should do it!" He exclaimed before placing the needle and thread in the lid of the jar, keeping hold of the scalpel and pincers in one hand and the jar in the other. Beckoning to me, he said: "Here, your arm; don't be shy, it's completely safe."

Considering earlier instances where he had uttered those words, and what had happened afterwards, I decided to keep my arm right where it was. He didn't seem to notice, though, as he was busy alternating glances between my wounded limb and the jar in his hand, muttering:

"But this is troublesome... I don't want to lose any of it by pouring it over your wound; at the moment, it still has an idiotically long and complex manufacturing process, you see – I am working on that, by the way, make no mistake – so it won't be good to lose it needlessly. Still, the wound won't reach the liquid if you just stick your hand into the jar. What to do, what to do... Hmm..." Looking over at the table, he put down what he was holding – placing the scalpel and the pincers in the lid together with the thread and needle, and putting the disinfectant right beside them – and picked up two new jars. "Strictly speaking, I don't need these two any more... I was mostly keeping them as a memento, you see – even if that experiment went _horribly_ wrong."

He opened the jars – both filled with white powder – and emptied one into the other. Putting the lid back on on the jar now filled with red pebbles, he analysed it. "Odd, that. I didn't think that the reaction would look like that. What happens if..." Shaking the jar, the pebbles broke and disintegrated into white powder again, before slowly gathering together into clumps and shifting colours again. "Interesting. I'll have to remember to look this over later. But I am getting sidetracked – how is your arm holding up?" Returning his focus to my limb, he observed: "Ah, bleeding again, I see. You can put it down now." I held a brief staring contest with him before recognizing it as futile to resist – things always turned out the way he wanted them to, anyway, unless a Grane stepped in to stop him – and lowered my arm, causing him to irritatedly bark: "No, no! Not all the way! Hold it out in front of you!" As I followed his request, he smiled brightly and praised me. "There we go! Good girl."

Putting the empty jar back on the table, he unfastened a hairpin from his shirt collar and put away the strands of brown hair which had been getting into his eyes before once again picking it and the disinfectant jar up and making his way over to me.

"Can you hold this underneath your injured arm? We need to remove the worst of the dirt, bacteria and whatnot before I start removing the bullet shards." He handed me the empty one and guided my left arm until I held it just below the wound. "Good. Just like that. Now hold still, and that'll be splendid." Moving his right arm so that he was ready to pour the green liquid over my wound, and taking a steady hold of my wrist with the other, he hesitated for a second. "Now this will hurt quite a bit, but be a darling and hold still, will you? As I said, I don't want to waste any of this, and if you go about jumping around, it will most certainly be spread all over the place."

I nodded to show him that I had understood – it was no use talking, as he just interrupted whatever you had to say – and braced myself. Reyforth may not be entirely sane, despite – or maybe because of – his genius, but one thing I had learnt from being around him for as long as I had is that when he says something is going to hurt, he is not lying.

He exclaimed: "Great! Then, here we go!" And I watched as the green liquid fell as if through a tunnel. At first, I didn't feel anything, not even the sensation of the liquid as it moved along my skin, but that didn't last for long.

Fire.

Ice.

Pain, pain, _pain_.

I was reminded of another time, when I had had acid eating its way through my skin.

And then it stopped. As if it never had been there in the first place, the pain just vanished. I stared perplexed at my arm.

Just as the things Reyforth had immersed in the odd liquid earlier, it was completely dry.

I kept watching as Reyforth slit my skin open and started the painful and gruesome business of digging after the bullet shards, occasionally passing some kind of electronic device over my arm to see where the rest of the pieces lay, if there were any left. The liquid must have had some kind of blood-clotting property, because I barely bled at all. It was fascinating in a way, watching my tendons, muscles and blood vessels laid bare like that.

Finally satisfied with that all the metal had been removed from my flesh, Reyforth gave me another dousing of the disinfectant before sewing my skin back together. Of course, more of an open wound meant more pain for me as the liquid cascaded down my arm, but I simply gritted my teeth and endured it, as it needed to be done.

With his deft hands, my skin was quickly patched together, and he bandaged my forearm back up before moving on to a full-body examination, talking all the while. I kept half an ear open, in case he said something interesting, but mostly I just zoned out; I was extremely tired, and Doc would never do anything to cause me permanent injury.

At least not intentionally.

When he finally released me, satisfied for the moment, I made my way through the bright, winding underground corridors until I reached the secret passage leading to my room.

Ignoring the twinge of pain brought to me by the action, I placed my right hand on a specific, but seemingly random, section of the wall after having scanned the area with my senses, making sure that there was no-one nearby. As I did so, the seemingly wooden floor opened before me after only a second of hesitation, revealing the concrete staircase below.

Reaching the bottom, I once again put my hand to the wall to let it scan my fingerprints. As the machinery deemed them satisfactory, the metal door opened, sliding aside and letting me in before sealing itself shut behind me, effectively trapping me within. Getting in is easy, but I could not get out unless another member of my family specifically ordered it.

It is a bit odd, really, how I willingly lock myself into this place, which effectively serves as my prison. But on the other hand, where else could I go? I know nothing but this life that had been given to me here, so it'd be pretty hard to leave.

_Leaving means leaving my family, leaving Theron, right? I don't want that. I don't want that! I DON'T WANT THAT!_

_No, calm down. Calm down, Kitten. Now is not the time to freak out over something trivial._

After having regulated my breathing, I yawned and stretched, feeling the pull at my sore muscles and wound.

The best and most logical thing to do right now would probably be to sleep. My body almost screamed at me for it, after having been without it for soon twenty-four hours, and yet my mind couldn't seem to relax. Sighing and scratching my neck – a habit copied from the idiot that surfaced whenever I was troubled, nervous, embarrassed, perplexed or something like it – I contemplated what to do. A shower probably wouldn't be all that bad, and neither would training – I could always do something that would not burden my arm – as I usually slept better after doing either one of those. But at the same time... I just didn't feel like doing either.

_Hmmm... Then what?_

My eyes slid over to the right of me, to the box and papers lying oh-so-innocently on my bed. I really wanted to try the game out, but on the other hand... I hadn't read through all the notes and the articles yet, never mind the manual. It would definitely be much better if I was prepared for what awaited me before I started. And that wasn't the only problem... _That game... If I enter it, will...?_

I was saved from thinking about my dilemma (for the moment, at least), by a soft _ping_ to my left.

I didn't have any grudges against _this_ bell. This one, as opposed to the ear-splitting one telling me that the witch was summoning me, sounded rather pleasant and was only telling me that my food had arrived. Going over to the hatch which had now opened in the wall, revealing the food-deliverance shaft within (which, in case you are wondering, is way too small for me to fit through), I retrieved my breakfast.

It may not be the most colourful or tasty meal out there, but every meal sent down here was carefully calculated to fit my exact nutritional needs. It took a while for them to get it right, seeing as I need more food than your average human, and slightly different proportions between the different types of nutrients, but after handing me over to the mad scientist for a couple of days (he got sidetracked regularly, otherwise it would have gone much faster), the issue was solved.

Taking the marine-coloured plastic tray in my left hand, I crossed over to my bed and cleared away some papers before sitting down. Taking away the cover from some kind of meat soup, my stomach stirred in interest.

Putting the first spoonful in my mouth – they had actually paid attention to the seasoning this time, so it was quite good – I looked over the mess currently littering my bed. As I did so, an image flashed before my eyes; it was of another room, another bed in a different kind of mess.

It was an image of feathers, blood and cold skin.

Forcefully feeding myself another spoon of the soup – its taste had now faded to nothing more than hot water – I picked up the manual of the game, which I had yet to open, to distract myself. It was no use locking away my emotions a third time – the mission was over now, so as long as I distracted myself, I didn't have to worry about my feelings disturbing me.

And besides, the more times I locked them away, the longer it took for them to return, and the stronger that knight would notice it. And the stronger he noticed it, the more sad he would become.

No, I would cope.

Eyeing the table of contents while ignoring the aching caused in my wounded arm by holding the quite heavy book, I decided to simply start from the beginning. Putting the spoon in my mouth, I turned the page.

"'1: Warnings'..." I mumbled, spoon still in my mouth. Somewhere along the road, I had started talking to myself to get rid of some of the silence in my room, and it had quickly become a habit. Reading on, I concluded that: "It doesn't seem to concern me, and most of it is just common sense anyway." Continuing on to the next part of the manual, I read: "'2: Getting started'. This seems more like it." Plucking the spoon out of my mouth, I retrieved some more soup from the bowl as I continued reading.

"'Calibrating your console'..."

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><p><strong>Umm... Nothing much to say, really. Except, you know, the usual: Please review! Constructive criticism is extra nice!<strong>

…

**No? But if I give you a virtual hug and cookie for it?**


	5. Stupid Cat

****Note: As of (date) this chapter was replaced with a new, modified, and MUCH better version. Well, at least according to me. The content of this chapter was previously written in chapter 2.****

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><p><strong>WARNING: DISCARDING OF CANON FACTS. The bottom AN (which almost requires a warning on its own, due to its absolutely ridiculous length) should cover those I intentionally discarded and why I did it, so if you're upset, read that first, _then _complain to me if you still don't agree. Personally I find my reasons quite justifiable, but maybe you will make me realize something I missed about why the canon version would be better, I don't know. Or maybe you'll find out while reading that I messed up some other fact, which I didn't actually _mean _to mess up. In that case I will be very happy if you say what it was, so that this fic can be as correct as possible.**

**Disclaimer: They threw my last attempt in the trash, but this time they will definitely think they're real! I used ink! And made pretty dragons and fishies in the margins!**

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><p>Chapter 5:<p>

Stupid Cat

I had succumbed to my curiosity, letting it take precedence over both caution and sense.

Now that I think about it, hadn't idiot knight of a brother once said something that could fit in into this situation? That time when I had told him that I had taken a hit for him because _"I was curious about if this poison could affect me"_? Ah, yes; _"Stupidity killed the cat..."_ it was. The sweet idiot was really mad with me at the time.

Letting a small, wry smile grace my face, I twisted the centre of one of the longer beads of my crown where I lay on the bed, letting it carry my body off to sleep, and my mind into another world.

I would probably regret doing this later.

I knew that, and yet that hadn't stopped me from tying and calibrating my crown.

_Stupidity killed the cat, indeed._

Everything went black.

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><p>Gasping, I relished the feeling of air filling my lungs again, of having solid ground beneath me. I fell to all fours, mentally exhausted, and just let myself <em>feel<em> for a while.

Clothes laying against my body, hair tickling my skin.

Black marble – or at least something that felt and looked like black marble, despite the fact that it was obviously _not_ – was meeting my feet, knees and palms.

I let my left hand run along the surface before curling my fingers into a fist and letting out a snort. _Right. None of this is real. They've made an impressive effort in making it seem like it is, though. Kudos to them._

As I made a conscious effort of returning my breathing and heartbeat to its normal pace, I slowly began to calm down.

That had _not_ happened when I had entered the crown's own virtual space to check its settings and that I had calibrated it correctly. Was that the normal start-up procedure of _Second Life_? If it was, then I'd have to take the reins from Kitten every bloody ti-

My thoughts were interrupted by a voice sounding out to the right of me.

"Oh, my."

My whole body went tense, every muscle in my body tightening as my frayed nerves screamed _"DANGER!"_ at me. I drew my legs in below me and stood as quickly as I could, turning around to face this person and sinking down; ready to flee or fight, whichever would be necessary.

In front of me was some kind of... _contraption_.

At a closer look, I realized that it was a chair.

A giant, floating bronze chair looking like it had been taken right out of the head of some crazy science-fiction writer or other hovered in front of me, the only other solid thing in this empty space apart from me and the chequered floor and ceiling, stretching out infinitely into the distance.

No, that was not true. There was one other thing – no, being – here. There was a woman sitting in the chair, dressed in a very revealing bronze armour in the same style as the chair.

I felt a growl starting to build in my stomach. I did not like this.

No, not at all.

Me and foreign situations do not clash well to begin with, quite likely due to the paranoia I have developed throughout the years, but I could still handle them. I could still keep up a front and act, no matter how much I just wanted to jump at every shadow.

Nothing should be different now.

I should still be able to do that.

But no matter how much my brain screamed at my body to act properly, it refused to listen, instead sinking even lower into it's stance and letting the growl slip out.

_Get your fucking act together, moron!_ I screamed at myself. _You can't let others see you like this!_

To my complete bemusement, however, the woman in the chair didn't seem to care about – or maybe she didn't notice – my hostile reaction, and kept talking.

"We are so very sorry for that, Beast Queen. But we only have a small amount of GM:s who are authorized to receive the Kings and Queens, and none of us were available when you logged in."

_She has a very nice voice_, I observed, _almost like wind chimes._

Then I gave myslef a mental shake. _Not the issue here! _I reminded myself and returned my focus to gaining control of my body.

Slowly, my growl died out into nothing and my body started straightening itself out into a slightly more relaxed posture. "Still, you shouldn't have had to wait that long, especially not in transit..." Then her voice took on a slightly harder edge. "Those damned technicians. We have asked them over and over to change the settings so that the players get dropped in here immediately, but they still don't do anything about it. Do you know the amount of complaints we get?!" She was clearly very agitated, using her arms and hands to empathize her point. As she talked, I had managed to stand up properly, looking completely relaxed.

Not that I was. But looking nervous, tense or skittish never got anyone anywhere, so I did my best to always look like I belonged, like I knew exactly what I was doing and didn't have a care in the world.

The woman seemed to gather herself together and focused on me for the first time since I saw her, causing my nerves to once again start up with the red flags and warning sirens. Ignoring it save for a slight twitch of my hand wanting to reach for a weapon, I met her eyes.

_Pink. Pink? How can eyes be pink? _I searched my brain.

_There is a character customization process. She probably changed it then. _Then, giving it another second of thought, I realized: _That is probably how she got her hair so long and blue, too..._ The woman's curly and unnaturally turquoise hair would probably reach her calves, were she standing up.

"But never mind that. That is our problem, not yours. Let's start up the character creation process, shall we?"

I eyed her warily, before giving a slight nod.

"Good!" She gave me a bright smile, her beautiful features relaying nothing but kindness. "I am Mira, your GM for the occasion." She winked at me. "Since this is your first time playing _Second Life_, we'll need a moment to transfer your basic data, such as body type and vocal frequency, from your helmet's local memory into the game, so that we may create your character as realistically as possible. This will not be necessary in the future as you will then already have a character and thus be directly transported into the game." This was said with a calm and even voice, leading me to believe that she had said it many times before. But she shortly went back to the animated state she had been in previously, smirked and added: "Just be patient and put up with the theatrics, OK?"

As confused as that remark made me feel, it was quickly cleared up (as opposed to my tenseness, which escalated a few levels instead) when thee small, orb-shaped machines dislodged themselves from her chair and flew toward me. Two of them positioned themselves to either side of me, and the third stopped right in front of my face, allowing me so see my distorted mirror image staring back at me from the shiny, black and seamless surface.

Yet it wasn't only the strange proportions everything got that caused it to take a while before I recognised myself.

My eyes and skin I was used to; after all, all that was needed to see those were to remove a pair of lenses and to get washed up, both of which I did quite often. What felt weird see was my eyelashes, eyebrows and hair.

I was so used to them being caramel brown that seeing their true colours shocked me somewhat despite knowing that this was how they would appear in the game due having visited the crown's local virtual space before entering _Second Life_. It made me sick, in a way, that these white eyelashes and eyebrows I saw now were so foreign to me, and that the slightly wavy black and white hair framing my face did not look like it belonged there.

** Commencing Scanning**

A hollow voice rang out from the orb, and I flinched slightly, my left hand darting around to my lower back, where I usually, unless the clothes I was currently wearing didn't allow it to without being seen, kept my best knife.

It wasn't there, of course, even if the simple white t-shirt and blue jeans the system had put me in would probably have allowed for it.

And then the lasershow began.

While the one in front of my face remained stationary,the two orbs at my sides flew up and started circling around me. All of them, however, began emitting green laser beams.

I had to clench every muscle in my whole body to refrain from lashing out with hands and feet in those first few seconds and try to smash the machines.

To say that this place was not good for my nerves would be an understatement.

** Scanning Complete. Player ID: 83457 38037 **

"And we're done!" The GM exclaimed. "I really have no idea about why they programmed it like that. To impress the players and prevent awkward silence I guess, but seriously, the process takes at an average five seconds, so is it really necessary? Anyway," she stated, and calmed down a bit, falling back into her role as a "proper" GM, "you may now begin to create your character. Before you proceed, I must remind you that you will only have one chance to create a character. Once created, your specie, name, and appearance cannot be changed."

I nodded again. No matter how uneasy I felt about this whole situation, at least it was easy to communicate with this woman. She was a bit like the mad scientist in that she talked very much, just not as... _intense_. Anyway, I preferred not talking, so this worked out just fine for me.

"Great!" That warm and bright smile was back on her smooth features. "Then, let's begin. I must admit that I am a bit exited about being able to help with the creation of a Queen. Even though I am authorized for crown-reception, you are actually the first owner I've met." Then she grumbled: "Lolidragon snatches them all, the greedy bitch... She's already received four of them! Four!" Then she seemed to remember her current task and said with a light blush; "Ah, sorry. Please select a specie."

With that, she moved an arm and pressed something on a half-translucent window that had appeared the second before.

Such a simple action was all it took for me to lose all the progress I had made towards becoming comfortable in the odd world, as a group numbering up towards (if not over) a hundred suddenly appeared in a flurry of white light, surrounding me.

The _beings_ – I have no better word for it, as there was everything from a human to a jumping rock – moved constantly. Rustling, fluttering, crawling, walking, floating, flapping.

I redistributed my weight and focused on my senses, to my delight finding them just as sharp here as in the real world, trying to observe everything that was happening around me, all at once.

My blood started pumping and my vision narrowed.

My muscles quivered with unreleased tension, like a coiled-up feather, just waiting for the chance to release their power.

Still retaining at least some of my capability to think rationally, I growled through clenched teeth before I acted on my impulses and started attacking the beings: "Get them to line up. Please."

Thankfully, the crowd dispersed within seconds, lining up neatly.

It was still hard to relax, though. Adrenaline was rushing though my system and my heart pounded in my ears. Or, at least, that is what it felt like. I had no idea of how my body was reacting at that moment. It didn't really matter.

The threat – threats – were still standing right in front of me. How was I supposed to unwind?

"Sorry about that, it can be a little overwhelming." Mira's – I made a quick decision to dub her 'prattler' – voice was soft, as if she had noticed that right now, I was barely more than a wild, cornered animal, just waiting for a chance to lash out.

I had reached my limit for enduring things like this today. At the moment, I only needed the slightest of pushes to go over the edge. "Overwhelming" was one hell of an understatement.

"Just." I said, but before I could continue with what I was supposed to say, I caught myself, released a pent-up breath and scratched my neck.

I didn't want to scare her away. She had been so nice to me. It was not her fault that I was jumpy today, or that the game hadn't treated me too kindly in the start-up, putting me in a sensory void for what felt like years before springing all of these surprises on me. No, it wasn't Mira's fault. _But what should I say? What should I say to make her keep liking me? She doesn't mind my mutations, she never looked at me weird or said anything! I don't want to lose her now. She can become a friend. I have never had a friend before. Just Theron, but he's my brother. Brothers can't be both brothers and friends. Brothers are friends because they are brothers, but that is not the same thing as being a friend. Friends are not brothers. But what should I say? I don't know what to say!_

_Calm down Kitten. You're not even making sense. You know what to say. You must have heard someone excusing themselves to a friend before, right?_

_Yes, but not in this situation! Never in this situation! It was always other excuses, ones that would seem weird here._

_You must have heard __something__!_

_No, I haven't! I know what Rizza would say, but I think that Mira wouldn't like me saying that..._

_Then forget about the damn princess! Theron once said that she can't be nice, even if her life depended on it, don't you remember that?_

_That's right! Theron! Theron would know what to say!_

_But Theron isn't here, moron._

_...no, he isn't here, but he said something similar, once! He was mad, really, really mad. "Stupidity killed the cat, curiosity got framed," remember? Then he regretted it. He said sorry! He was just worried and had had a really rough day!_

I knew what to say. "Just give me a moment, OK? I kinda had a rough day. Sorry if I sounded mad."

"I understand, there's no need to apologize; we all have those days. Take all the time you need. When you feel ready, ask me all the questions you want about the races. I know just about every little thing there is to know." She was smiling.

"Thanks." I smiled back, happy that I had chosen the right thing to say.

* * *

><p><strong>Long AN ahead, but I feel a need to explain myself as to why the practicalities of Tigris' character creation process was different to Feng Lan's.**

**I have actually taken the freedom I have with the crowns being a part of a second and improved generation of helmets to get rid of something that annoyed me in the original version.**

**[WARNING: RANT AHEAD]**

**The first thing I want to get out on this discussion table is that THE HELMET DOES NOT HAVE ACCESS TO YOUR MEMORIES, the just about only thing that would have made the canon version possible.**

**There. Now we can move on.**

**Anyway: how can a scan that is being executed _in your mind_ possibly see how your body looks like or what your voice sounds like? (I'm not even going to start on the eye-, skin- and haircolour thing)**

**And even if it was possible (which it is not, I tell you) to scan you in your mind, how could the game know what she looked like before the scan was made? Because she appeared in the weird character-creation-place _before_ the scan took place. With a _body_. And I think she would have noticed if it wasn't hers. Especially since there was really no way the game should have been able to tell if she was male or female, and could just as well have given her a male temporary body, _if _that was the case. But even if the temporary body was female, I think that one would notice the change.**

**So, in _Beast Queen_, even if I didn't write about it all, the process is quite different. It's not just "put on your helmet and have fun!". Actually, I fetched some inspiration from _Sword Art Online,_ and the later novels of_ ½ Prince_ here.**

**Amazing series, _Sword Art Online_, by the way. If you like _½ Prince_, I'm pretty sure you will like that one too. They share the whole "Virtual Reality Game" thing, just that _SAO_ is more serious. Just, for CHOCOLATE'S sake, DON'T read the manga. Watch the anime or read the light novels, but stay away from the manga. It is horribly done. But I am getting off track in an A/N that is already way too long.**

**The inspiration I fetched from _SAO_ is that they calibrate their helmets to their sense of touch by running their hands over their bodies, giving the console a picture of what their bodies looks like.**

**This, coupled with an internal memory, virtual space (for those of you who have read the later volumes, you probably know what I'm talking about; to the others: think of it as a plain room where one can choose between different functions in the helmet) and DNA-scanner, allows the new helmets to create a local "copy" of you, which can then be used as a basis for all games. A template, so to speak.**

**The games then download this template (the "scanning") and fill it in (the "customization").**

**This way, even before the scanning is made, the player, and eventual GMs, still see the player's "real" body, as the helmet is communicating in real-time with the game. The game cannot be efficiently played, however, until the scanning is complete as, until then, it is like the player is merely seeing the game through a screen (oh, the _horror_). A highly advanced one, granted, capable of replicating sensations for all the senses, but a screen nevertheless. So for more advanced gameplay, the scanning is highly necessary.**

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><p><strong>Did I just confuse people now, or was this actually helpful?<strong>

**Reviews are, as always, much loved and will be rewarded with virtual hug and cookie. As I have just finished a fresh batch of virtual cookies, so those who give constructive criticism can actually get TWO cookies! Good, huh? (Yes, I am aware of the fact that I am shamelessly bribing people)**


	6. What Do You Want To Be?

****Note: The content of this chapter was previously written in chapter 2. This new version is much better, at least according to me.****

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><p><strong><strong>I want to give thousands upon thousands of thanks to all of those who reviewed the old chapter 5, <em>especially<em> those who reviewed and/or favourited and/or alerted this story after I had put up the hiatus notice - it was thanks to all of you (and a couple of stubborn friends - you know who you are, and I extend my thanks to you, too) that I had the energy to keep on writing this, despite how bleak everything looked during my writer's block.****

****So thanks, cookies and hugs go to: dartya, HikariNoTenshi-san, ****chicaalterego, krad09, ThorongilAnime, bokpricken, Meatbun Attack, Serositannia, KuroHi91, Vendelareader, Exile Wrath, Kine X, Anonymous (guest), Guest (no. 1), Krystal (guest), Guest (no. 2) and Guest (no. 3).********

********I'm really sorry I kept you all waiting for so long.********

********I had two guest reviewers who asked relevant questions, so I will be answering them here.********

********Q: Are they going to enter the Adventurer's tournament and meet Odd Squad?********

********A: This is after the _1/2 Prince_ storyline, so the Adventurer's tournament is already gone and passed, and I don't have the energy to think up all the characters needed for an original tournament, so there won't be one of those. The original _1/2 Prince_ Characters will show up, however. I won't say when and how, though :P.********

********Q: Will the entire story be from Pan's point of view?********

********A: Yes, I will try to have all of _Beast Queen_ from Tigris' POV. I might make a one-shot/omake or two from others' POV, though, if the demand is high enough or if I want to illuminate something that simply would never have come to light through Tigris' eyes. She can be selectively blind, sometimes -_-"********

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><p><strong><strong>WARNING: MONSTROUSLY LONG AN AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER, explaining my thoughts about different stats.****

****Disclaimer: WHY!? What do they have against my fishies and dragons? This time they didn't even throw them away, they just ripped them apart! That's so mean! I spent much effort and love on that! That's it, I give up... I can't convince anyone... ½ Prince will never be mine... *starts crying and goes to sit in the emo corner*****

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><p>Chapter 6:<p>

What Do You Want To Be?

After having composed myself, I looked over the line of beings in front of me, trying to take it all in, but it was just too much. Scratching my neck, I made a quick decision, trying to bring down the numbers.

"Could you remove all characters without a human-like body type?" It would feel strange, and take a long time getting adjusted to the beings that were too different.

"Sure." She said simply, and with a smile she manipulated the screen in front of her with quick movements, making about a fourth of the numbers disappeared. _Well, at least it's something_, I thought and started walking along the line. It didn't take long before I realized the next group of beings I would like to remove.

Still, I hesitated in telling her. But if I left them, this would take way too long, and since I wouldn't choose any of them in the end, anyway, I turned to Mira again. With a light blush dusting my cheeks, I asked: "Could you remove the uglier ones, too, please?"

I didn't want to come off as vain – after all, that was not a good trait to have – but... I did not want to be ugly. To my relief, she just gave me a mischievous grin.

"Right there with you, sister." I felt my body freeze at that. _Sister? Why would she call me sister?_ "They're hurting my eyes, too. And besides, I'd never let one of the Queens to play as an orch or something like it, _especially_ not if she is as pretty as you, so there is no point in letting the ugly bitches stay. Honestly, I'll never understand the players choosing those kinds of characters, despite the stat bonuses." And like that, another portion of the beings were gone. Things started getting a little more manageable, now. Recovering from my shock and deciding that it must just have been a figure of speech, I started walking along the line again, but soon realized that I couldn't make a choice. There were just so_ many_.

The silence stretched on, and Mira seemed to notice my plight, because she said: "Know what, let's do like this." And in an instant, all apart from seven of the beings vanished. "These are, from left to right; a mountain demon, a guardian angel, a Westfell human, a cat beastman, a stellar elf and a dark elf. They are all fairly popular characters and sub-species with good specs. There are a lot more than this, of course, if I only use those criteria, so I also filtered away those that didn't fit your crown or looks. This way, we can only keep removing the one you like the least until you find the one you want. Unless you already have a favourite?"

Slightly dazed, I shook my head and took a good look at the characters standing silently before me. Before, when they had been so many, I hadn't realized this, but now that they were down to seven, I could clearly see that they were all based off my basic data, creating a starting point from which to start customizing. It felt slightly odd, to have seven different versions of myself silently staring at me.

One, the human, was almost my mirror image, apart from being longer, having round pupils and having slightly darker skin. I looked at this one first, most likely because it was the least unnerving of them all. Noticing my look, Mira commented: "Humans can be considered an allround specie. They are well balanced, and will most likely fit whatever class you choose. This sub-species, Westfell, is slightly inclined towards agility and strength, with a low physique, but that is compensated by an affinity for animals represented in an ability called _Tamer_, which gives bonuses such as that pets will get friendly and stronger quicker." I frowned. That all sounded good, but somehow, I didn't feel like playing as a human. For all my life, I had been something other than human; better or worse, I do not know, but _different_. Playing as a human now and giving up that difference felt like I would be giving up a part of who I was.

It might be slightly ridiculous, but that is how I felt. I shook my head. "You can remove that one."

Mira lifted an eyebrow. "You sure? Don't you want to hear about the others first, before you decide?"

I shook my head again, and said: "No, remove it."

"Well then, if you're sure." She answered, and made the human, who had quite unnervingly been glaring at me ever since I told her to remove it, vanish.

Turning my gaze upon the others, I felt drawn to the black-speckled white plumage of the angel. To be able to fly... That would be truly wonderful. Looking into the amber eyes giving off the aura of a proud bird of pray, despite the fact that they seemed like a cat's in my own face, I tried to imagine what it would be like to play as an angel. To have feathers instead of hair brushing my face, and collars of fluffy plumage sitting around my neck and wrists, feathers instead of pants covering my legs and most of all, having those great wings growing on my back. As if it knew that I was admiring them, the angel spread her magnificent wings to their full length, giving them a few experimental beats to let me see the feathers ruffle in the great draft created by the action.

Getting a whole new set of limbs... It would take a while to get adjusted, but it was worth it, if the payoff was the ability of flight. I imagined myself soaring through the air, getting a bird's eye view of the world. I dived, plummeting towards the ground, unfolding my wings at the last moment. Slowing down, I started preparing myself for the landing. Lightly setting down my feet on the green field, I steadied myself and folded the wings against my back. They pulled me back, like a very heavy backpack. Catching my balance, I sat down to get rid of the problem, but the wings were so long that they got in the way. I had to unfold them to be able to sit. I frowned as I realized that laying down would bring the same kind of problems with the wings.

I resurfaced from my daydream to Mira's voice. "Angels are one of the most diverse races; depending on which sub-species you choose, you get entirely different kinds of stats. The only thing they really have in common, stat-wise, is that none of them have downright _bad_ physique, even if there are a couple only reaching average. Guardian angels are only fit for the physical classes – their intelligence and wisdom stats just about non-existent, and the willpower stat only ever gets up to average, if you're lucky. To compensate for this, however, their strength, physique and agility are amongst the best amongst the best you can find. So if you don't have anything against being very slow to gain skills due to the low wisdom stat, this is one of the best warrior characters you can find. All guardians are also 'born' with the twin abilities _Dogfight_ and _Air Siege_. _Dogfight_ gives all kinds of bonuses in air battles, as long as both parties fly. _Air Siege_ does the same, but in air-to-ground battles, if you are the party in the air."

I bit my lip and scratched my neck again. It was really tempting, but still... Those wings would be troublesome. As soon as I touched the ground, I would almost become handicapped. The wings of the angel in front of me had their joints a good bit above her head, and the tips almost touched the ground by her feet. If I didn't have enough room to take off, I would almost become a sitting duck, as I would not be able to move properly, especially with the weight they must represent.

I opened my mouth, but hesitated. It was probably quite ridiculous, considering that helping new players were Mira's job, but I felt like I was troubling her. Feeling my cheeks heating up again, I said: "Could you remove that one, too?" Before Mira could ask, or even lift an eyebrow, I hastily added: "I feel like the wings would get in the way all the time. Flying would be very nice, but I just don't think that it's worth it."

She nodded with a smile, and the angel was gone. Looking down the line again, now down to five characters, I frowned again and asked: "What is the difference between the elves?" To me, they looked entirely identical, save for the fact that their colours were reversed. The stellar elf had white skin with black markings, with the reverse true for the hair, and black clothes, while the dark elf had black skin with white markings, white hair with black markings and white clothes. The only thing the same between them, colour-wise, was the eyes. They were still the same amber as always. They probably had some stat-differences, though.

"Other than the coloration, you mean?" She asked with a smirk before she went on. "All elves are agility-oriented with a low physique, so if you plan to be a tank, they aren't your species, but otherwise, they tend to be a good choice no matter your choice of class, because depending on the sub-species, you can get whatever stats you want. The stellar and dark elves differ in that they, apart from the good agility, average willpower and bad physique, are opposites of each other. The stellar elves are a magic-oriented sub-species, with high intelligence and wisdom, while the dark elves are more physical, with an extremely high strength stat. The stellar elf comes with an ability called _Scrying_, which improves the accuracy of their moves, and the dark elf with an ability called _Smokescreen_, which decreases their opponents' accuracy. Again, complete opposites of each other."

"Then you can remove the stellar elf. I think that I'll take a physical class." I had been fighting with my body all my life. Starting to stand in the back now, mumbling long sentences and taking cover behind others would just feel wrong. I would never be able to stand it.

Now there were only three beings left in line; the demon, the beastman (-woman?) and the dark elf. Swallowing down my reluctance about troubling Mira again, I asked: "Can you give me the specs for the remaining two?"

"Yes, ma'am." She saluted jokingly. I felt my face heating up again, and turned away so that she wouldn't see it. Why was she behaving like that toward me? Why was she so friendly toward a complete stranger? "Which one do you want to hear about first, ma'am?" I think my face just got even hotter.

"Either one, it doesn't really matter..."

"Aww- Hrm. Then I'll start with the beastman." _Did she just..._ "Woman, in this case." _...coo?_ "Beastpeople are a very physical species, and it is very rare to see a player playing as both a beastman and in a magic-oriented class." _At me?_ "There is a very famous exception in Ugly Wolf of _Odd Squad_, of course, but he's more of 'the exception which proves the rule'." _Yeah..._ "All beastpeople have abysmal intelligence stats, low wisdom stats, and usually only average willpower, at most, but good physical stats." _I am pretty sure she..._ "Which one is dominant depends on the sub-species; cat beastpeople are dominant in agility and born with an ability called _Acrobatics,_ improving balance, flexibility, jump- and fall height." _Cooed..._ "Just in case you are curious, all cat beastpeople are classified as the same sub-species, and the only reason I chose to display the white tiger variety is because of your appearance, so if you want to be some other type of cat, we can change that in an iffy." ..._at me. _"By the way, I love those stripes of yours. They look so _cute_!" _Why? I mean, she... I... Wait, stripes? Cute? Nononono!_ My face felt like it was burning up by now.

"They aren't stripes... more like splotches..." I mumbled. Then, quickly looking to diverting her attention – I was _not _comfortable with the subject – I asked: "What about the demon?" I mean, it was bad enough when Theron got on my case about the blotches, calling them cool and beautiful, but this... stranger? _Is she a stranger? She seems like a friend, but... we just met. Can one become friends so quickly? I don't think so. But she is not a stranger either. I mean, I've talked to her. And I know her name. That means she can't be a stranger, right? But if she is not a friend, and not a __stranger, not a business partner and certainly not a family member, what is she? Acquaintance? Was that the word? Yes. Yes! She is an acquaintance! Not friend yet, but soon, maybe?_

I got brutally yanked out of my train of thought as I was attacked and started to fall towards the floor. Reflexively, I manoeuvred out from the clutches of my enemy, grabbing an arm as I went. Slamming my opponent into the ground, stomach first, I twisted the arm I had grabbed around and entwined it with mine so that even the slightest movement from either of us would bring pain; bigger movements would be capable of dislocating the shoulder. Just as I registered my enemy as effectively immobilized, I was brought out of my daze by a voice.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch... Sorry, sorry. Rough day, I know. Shouldn't have done that. _Ouch_. Let me go, please?"

Blinking, I looked down at my foe. A great tangle of incredibly curly turquoise hair covered by a high-tech bronze circlet met my sight from where I lay pressed against the woman's back. _Mira? _I questioned in my head. _Why would she...? _Startled, I let go and sat up.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to... I mean, I... you..." Not finding the right words, I apologized again. "I'm sorry! Are you ok?" Maybe she wouldn't like me after this...

"Don't worry 'bout it, don't worry 'bout it. It's my fault, really. Shouldn't have jumped on you like that." She was sitting up, using her right hand to massage her bruised left shoulder. "It's just that..." She turned her head towards where I was sitting attentively to make sure that she was really all right, and not just saying that to make me feel better for attacking her. Somewhere in the back of my head, a voice protested against this behaviour, both because it wasn't dignified and because the woman I was worried about had just attacked me, but I brushed it aside and ignored it. "Oh, blast it." She said, before jumping at me again, just as suddenly as last time. This time, though, I realized that it was a hug, and since I had already registered her as a "non-hostile" in my brain, nothing worse than that I went stiff happened. My entire body was screaming at me, however; I was not used to this kind of physical contact. And her armour war cold and hard. But I held myself back from pushing her away; I didn't want to offend her any further. "You are so sweet! And when you blush, I just want to hug you and never let go! You're like an adorable little kitten!" I hadn't moved in the slightest, but I felt my face – and ears – growing hot again. "You have your cute little stripes, and eyes, and your _hair_! It's so amazingly fluffy! Can I pet you?"

Hesitantly, I nodded. Maybe friends did things like this? Anyway, it was good in a way, because it made her let go of me and back off a bit. I looked to the side, not feeling like meeting those pink eyes of hers at the moment. But maybe looking away wasn't much better, because that made my eyes meet those of the beastwoman. She looked like a great white tiger which had grown human breasts, gotten slightly longer toes on the forefeet, and started walking on two legs. She wasn't wearing anything but her fur, but that covered her entire body, so it didn't pose a problem. I think that one could safely say that she was leaning heavily towards the "beast" part of "beastwoman". She was looking at me with a big grin on her face, showing off her sharp teeth.

I glared at the thing as Mira reached forth and petted my hair. _And what is so funny, ugly?_ The grin just grew wider, and as Mira exclaimed; "Wow! This is just as soft as it looks! And this is what your real hair is like? I am so jealous... my real hair is the most boring _ever,_" and rubbed a strand of it against her cheek, I swear that I even saw the thing chuckle. I felt a growl starting to build up throat, but held it in. If I growled, maybe Mira would think I was growling at her, and I didn't want that. Grumbling silently in my thoughts, I wondered; _Now that I think about it, why is this big cat still in the room? I don't think that it can become pretty, even if we apply that 30% beautification option on it... It should have been sorted out with the other ugly ones._ Pondering that for a while, I then came to the conclusion that it most likely had to do with Mira's personal preferences, considering her reaction to my cat-like traits. Then I smirked. _Don't think you've won, furball. I still have the ultimate weapon!_

I glanced back at Mira for a second before the awkwardness of the entire situation, with her fawning over my hair, got to me and my cheeks heated up again. I turned away, saying: "On second thought, could you remove the beastwoman at once?"

The smile on Mira's face grew even wider, and with a short: "Sure! Anything for my sweet little kitten!" she sat back opposite of me and called up a system window by mumbling "Control Window." Then, with a few quick swipes of her fingers, only the demon and the elf remained. For some reason, though, the cat had still been grinning as she disappeared. "The demon, then. Hmm..." Closing her eyes for a few moments, she then started reciting: "Demons are much like angels..." She cut herself off at a withering glare and dark growl from said horned demon. "Gaah, these AIs will be the death of me. Why we even have them in the character creation process is a mystery to me..." Sticking her tongue out at the creature, she then continued as if nothing had happened. "Anyway, demons are much like angels in that the species is a very diverse one – the only thing they have in common is their high or excellent willpower stat. Mountain demons have a common nickname amongst players; 'Tricksters'. This is due to the fact that while having abysmal intelligence and low strength and physique, their agility, wisdom and willpower stats are truly excellent. Players choosing this sub-specie are usually strategists, employing hit-and-run tactics, laying traps for their enemy, hitting vital spots; fighting smart. This, however, is also why they are unpopular, as it can be hard mental work playing as one unless you want to die regularly, and as most people just come into _Second Life _to relax and have fun, they avoid the sub-specie. They do, however, come with a pair of very useful abilities; _Scouting _and_ Trapper. Scouting_ lets the user detect presences earlier, and in its more powerful stages, gives you quite a lot of information about your opponents. It also helps the user to track down both players and NPCs. _Trapper_ enables the user to construct and disable traps."

"I want this one." I said quickly, avidly staring at the demon. Her splotches were a bloody red, and the hair thus became a red-white mix. The eyes, whose colour had been the only common point between all the characters, were slitted, just like mine and the beastwoman's, and situated beneath a pair of snowy white eyebrows. Black horns, matching the claw-like nails on her hands and bare feet, were growing from her temples and from behind her pointed ears, three on each side, ridged. The ones stretching from the temples were the longest, about the same length as her forearms, and curved up- and backwards, with the tip pointing up. The middle pair were much shorter, only reaching to the back of the head from where they grew backwards, tips pointed out. The third pair, with their bases situated at the bottom of her ears, followed the same design, only a little shorter and with a more downward angle. She was smiling triumphantly at being chosen, revealing pointed canines. The elf was glaring at her, but she just lifted her left eyebrow and made a shooing motion just as her rival disappeared.

"Demon it is, then! Let's start the modifying." The bubbly woman said, ignoring the glare my character sent her way.

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><p><strong>I'll be breaking it there, since the chapter has reached its proper length. Well, if one doesn't count this LOOOOOOOOONG explanatory note I warned about in the beginning. If I did, it would have been much longer than it should. I am sorry about this; I know it can get dreary. You can skip it if you want, but if you want to know what I think about the different stats (something which may be useful for fully understanding all that Mira was talking about in this chapter, and for the rest of the story, too), you may want to read this. Think of it as a peek behind the scenes, so to speak.<strong>

**An avatar's stat window will look like this (pets' are slightly different):**

Name: XXX | Gender: ?

Level: ? | Specie: ? (?) | Class: ? (?) | Reputation: ? | Health: ? | Mana: ? | Unspent skill points: 0

Strength: ? | Physique: ? | Agility: ? | Intelligence: ? | Willpower: ? | Wisdom: ? | Charisma: ?

Luck: ? | Abilities: ?

****I'm going to be very orderly and start from the top, so let's begin with some obvious stuff.****

****Name: The name of your character.****

****Gender: The gender of the character. This states "Male", "Female" or "Unknown", if the gender isn't specified. An example of this can be if you play as a rock.****

****Level: The level the character is on.****

****Specie: What kind of character you have; sub-species are put in parenthesis. Example: Elf (Dark).****

****Class: States the class you belong to, such as priest, mage, warrior, archer and so on. Specifications listed in parenthesis. Example: Warrior (Two-handed Sword) or Mage (Air, Fire).****

****Reputation: Skill points cannot be distributed here. Your reputation, sometimes referred to as fame, can only rise if you make certain actions. Two common ways of increasing reputation is to compete in tournaments or complete quests. The reputation stat can also sink if you do things the game recognize as "wrong", such as attacking friendly NPCs or fellow players. Your reputation helps you by making the NPCs give you better deals in transactions, giving you more information and quests and such.****

****Health: Health is measured in numbers, and is determined by how good of a physique your character has and what level it is on. It can also be boosted by various items, equipment or ****skills, but your basic health is determined by taking the level minus 1 and the physique together and multiplying it by ten. In other words: ((Level - 1) + Physique) x 10 = Health. I figured this out by looking at the early stat windows in the novels, and found a pattern, until ****later stat windows threw it all off. I'm going to use this model, though, to make things easier for myself, even if that prevents my stat windows from matching up with the canon's later on. You'll have to forgive me for that, but that is the only pattern I can find, and I really don't want to be pulling these numbers out of thin air if I am going to keep reporting on Tigris' character's stat window regularly through the story. If there is anyone who knows the correct model, please PM me about it, alternately tell me in a review.****

****Mana: How much magic power you have, measured in numbers. This stat was even more confusing than the health, so I just made up a model similar to the one I will be using for the health stat to use for this by utilizing the willpower stat, which I have never really understood the use for other than that magic-oriented types should be using it (Prince once comments that Ugly Wolf should put his skill points in willpower and intelligence, not strength). Again, if someone out there knows the real model, PM me or leave a review. The same goes for if you know the use for the willpower stat, because if it has one, then maybe I shouldn't be using it for this. Anyway; mana in this story will be determined like so: ((Level - 1) + Willpower) x 10 = Mana.****

****Unspent skill points: You get 3 skill points every time you level up, to be distributed as you please amongst the strength, physique, agility, intelligence, willpower and wisdom stats.****

****Strength: How strong your character is. This stat determines how hard your attacks will hit your opponent and what kind of equipment you can wear without it giving you an agility penalty. Bonuses can be added to this stat by abilities and equipment, and will be listed after a + for each different bonus.****

****Physique: A determining factor in how much health your character will have, as well as an indicator of defence. High physique = high defence, as well as resistance to status effects such as paralysation and poisoning. Bonuses can be added to this stat by abilities and equipment, and will be listed after a + for each different bonus.****

****Agility: Maximum movement speed as well as flexibility and balance. A high agility both lets you run fast and makes it easier for you to balance and make flips and other acrobatic movements. Bonuses can be added to this stat by abilities and equipment, and will be listed after a + for each different bonus.****

****Intelligence: A stat which lets your character skip or shorten incantations of spells if high enough. It also lets you experiment and invent new spells. The higher your intelligence, the stronger spells it works on. Bonuses can be added to this stat by abilities and equipment, and will be listed after a + for each different bonus.****

****Willpower: A determining factor in how much mana your character will have, as well as an intimidation and stubbornness factor. If you have a high willpower, you will have much mana, as well as that some monsters will get slight debuff when fighting against you. What I call "the stubbornness factor" means that the likelihood of something happening will increase every time you try to do it. For example; the first time you try to learn a spell, the likelihood of you succeeding is 5%. The second time, if you have a low willpower stat, the chance would still be 5%. If you have a high willpower stat, on the other hand, the percentage will increase to maybe 7% or something. Then it will just keep increasing until you get it right. Bonuses can be added to this stat by abilities and equipment, and will be listed after a + for each different bonus.****

****Wisdom: Determines how quickly your character learns stuff. In****_ ½ Prince_****, we can hear Prince comment that Meatbun learning so many weird techniques is only partly due to the weird stuff they put him through, but also because of his high wisdom stat. If we make a repeat of ****the earlier example; if your character has a low wisdom stat, and tries to learn a new spell, the chance of it succeeding might be 5%. If your character has a high wisdom stat, however, the chance goes up to, for example, 15%. Bonuses can be added to this stat by abilities and ****equipment, and will be listed after a + for each different bonus.****

****Charisma: A completely randomized stat, which always stays the same. You get a charisma value from 0-10 when your character is created. There is a theory that it has something to do with the looks of your character, but it hasn't been proven, as even mountain trolls have received charisma stats of 10 and some unlucky elves have landed at 0. Charisma helps in dealings with NPCs in much the same manner as reputation, but in a more subtle way. You got a bad reputation, and NPCs might refuse to serve you, but you got bad charisma and the service will only be bad, often in spite of the fact that you have a good reputation. It will also be hard to gain reputation, and easy to lose it, if you have bad charisma. Of course, the opposite is also true. Also, some abilities will be easier or harder to learn depending on what your charisma value is. This is true for both sides of the spectra.****

****Luck: This stat starts by stating "Unknown". Then, depending on what happens in the game, it will start to fluctuate between "Extremely unlucky" and "Extremely lucky". It is, however, very hard to switch between being lucky and unlucky, as as soon as you get classified as "Lucky", the chances of something unlucky, which can decrease your luck stat, happening, decreases. Sadly, the same is true for those who get "Unlucky". The luck stat determines, to a small degree, all the "random" things happening in the game, such as what drops you get and similar things. It has been confirmed that if many "Unlucky" persons gather together, the weather has a greater chance of being bad.****

****Abilities: Here the abilities the user has learnt are listed. I'm changing the format from the novels, in which the majority of the following is listed at once: the ability name, then the ability level (abilities level up with use, skill points cannot be distributed here), information about the ability, then if it's an offensive/defensive/neutral ability, then mana use, duration and range. An example from the first novel is one of Meatbun's abilities, Aroma Release. "****Aroma Release – Ability Level 1, can attract mobs, will use up 30 mana, lasts 20 minutes, range is 10 meters" I, however, will only list the categories of the abilities under "Abilities" in the stat window, with a number within a parenthesis to indicate how many abilities there are in that category, and then have pop-up windows with the names of the abilities, which then have further pop-up windows, where the specifics for each ability is written. It doesn't get as cluttery and confusing this way. One ability can be listed under several categories.****

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><p><strong><strong>That's it! ^^ Was it helpful?<strong>**

****...but my god, was that long. How many of you actually read it? Just because I'm curious; if you have time, could you say if you did or not in a review?****

****You'll get a virtual cookie and hug for it ^^ And for anything else you might like to write in there too, for that matter. Constructive criticism is still appreciated. Oh, and I would really like it if you told me what you thought about Mira's explanation about the species and sub-species. I pretty much just winged all that, since I had very little to go on from the novels. Did it seem good and believable and all that?****


	7. Details

****Note: The content of this chapter was previously written in chapter 2. This new version is much better, at least according to me.****

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><p><strong>Thanks, cookies and hugs go to: Alice, krad09 (x3! Thank you so much! Extra cookies for you!), Meatbun Attack and Vendelareader. I honestly did not expect this much response after having been gone for so long. Thank you!<strong>

**I will from now on put short answers to all guest reviewers in the bottom A/N ^^**

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><p><strong>WARNING: Minor spoiler for volumes seven and eight in ending AN.**

**Disclaimer: [Growing mushrooms, please come back at later date. /SeaDevil]**

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><p>Chapter 7:<p>

Details

After removing the elf, Mira had made herself comfortable on the floor beside me, conjuring up some pillows from somewhere and sitting herself cross-legged on a big, deep purple one after giving a couple to me, completely disregarding her chair. "Let's see... First up is the beautification option. You can choose to beautify yourself by up to 30%. Usually, we have an option that allows you to uglify yourself, too, but I'm not letting you do that. So, how much do you want to beautify your character? No, wait, don't say anything. Of course we will max it out. Silly me, to even ask." And just like that, without me having a single say in the matter, the demon started changing. It was subtle, at first, but after a couple of seconds one could clearly see her features becoming more well-defined and elegant, hair, nails and horns becoming more glossy and smooth, limbs elongating and proportions shifting to give a graceful impression. I blinked and smiled, eyeing my character in wonder. It was easier to do so now that she didn't look so much like Rizza any more. I was still not completely satisfied, but this was a very good change. Hearing a low whistle, I looked back to Mira. "Oh, you are going to have the boys falling head over heels for you, sister. Just don't let them boss you around, you hear me?" She looked sternly at me, neat eyebrows furrowed. Perplexed, I nodded. _Why does she think that I would let people boss me around?_ "Good girl!" She exclaimed and hugged me again, flinging herself across some pillows to do so. To my relief she let go quickly this time and, after getting properly seated again, continued; "Now, let's get on with the details. We don't have any standard protocol with this, but we usually start with the hair, eyes and skin, just because those are the most obvious and easily-modified things. So, do you have any changes you want to make to those parts?"

After getting that question, I barely had to think for a single moment before I knew the first change I wanted to make. "Could you modify and connect the splotches so that they make real stripes, all over the body?" She smiled.

"That I can. But I'll have to remove all the clothes and hair from the avatar to make sure that I get it all, are you okay with that?" Staring silently for a second before blushing furiously, I nodded. Even with my character being a demon with the 30% beautification applied, the basic data was still mine, meaning that removing all the clothes from it, leaving it naked, would basically be the same as Mira looking at my naked body. There shouldn't really be anything weird with that, considering that I had had people looking at my naked body before, and that she was a woman, but I still felt slightly uncomfortable. Pondering it for a while, I realized why just as the demon's clothing disappeared. _The scars._ I didn't want her to see my scars, which were perfectly reproduced, even the smallest ones, thanks to the high quality of my console and my heightened sense of touch, since it would most probably lead to all sorts of awkward questions. Someone my age shouldn't have so many of them, that much I knew. To my surprise, however, she didn't comment on it, not even with the slightest lift of an eyebrow, only started to modify the red markings. Slowly but surely, they melted together and spread, the varying hues of red mellowing out into a deep crimson, apart from the places they crossed the scars, where they remained a lighter hue. Shortly, the stripes covered the entire body evenly in a tiger-pattern, even the head, marking where the hair will grow red.

"We're done! Is that good?" I frowned, examining my avatar closely. The red was cool and all, but... I kinda like my original brown to black colours...

"Could you make them black?"

She nodded. "Do you want to make them entirely black, or have them shift to dark brown over the scars?" I blinked. _Is that all she is going to say about it?_

"Shift." I answered shortly, watching as the colour changed with a few quick commands from Mira on her panel.

"Better?" She asked, looking over at me. I nodded happily. "Well then, let's put the clothes back on." And just like that, the simple black tube top and slacks reappeared, along with her hair and eyebrows. I must admit that it looked much better this way. The horns had looked quite strange when situated on a bald head.

"Anything else you want to change about the skin, while I still have that window up?" I frowned before asking:

"Could you make it darker?" Right now, the demon was even whiter than my usually pale skin tone.

"Sure. I'll go at it slowly, so just say stop when it has reached a tone that you like." I nodded and turned to look at the avatar, watching for the slight changes in her skin. After it had reached a golden tone slightly darker than my own, I said:

"Stop." Mira nodded, and after some fiddling with her screen, asked:

"What about the eyes and hair?"

After some grief deliberation, I answered: "The eyecolour is good as is, but could you pull at the shape of the eyes a bit? Make them a bit larger and more tilted, with thinner eyelids?" She nodded and had it done quickly. The eyes now gave off a more watchful and feral appearance, leaving off their former elegance. Elegance was a word I associated with Rizza, and I wanted to be different from her.

"Are you sure you don't want to change the eyecolour? You don't have to choose a new colour, but we have an option named _Whirling Iris_ which will magnify the normal light-shift in the eyes, letting them change hue according to your mood. It's really popular, especially amongst women." She winked at me with a smile. "Believes that it makes their eyes more attractive. If they're right or not, I have no idea, but it is kinda cool. I have them." I just shook my head.

"No. I don't want people to be able to read my emotions like that. Because I guess that they are automatic?" Mira frowned.

"Yeah, they are... you know, I've never thought of it that way. Now that you say it, that could be kinda bad in some situations, couldn't it? Hmmm... Anyway, if that is it for the eyes, shall we proceed to the hair? Do you want to make any changes? Just so you know, the hair is one of the few things you can actually change after the creation process, seeing as it grows just like ordinary hair, and that there exist dyes and hairdressers in-game. It won't be as good as if you had done it here, but it is changeable." Being acutely aware of all the annoyances of long hair, and having long had urges to just take the nearest sharp object to cut it all off, but not having been able to act those urges, I quickly replied:

"Could you make it shorter? About ten centimetres long?" She looked at me weirdly.

"You mean ten centimetres shorter, right?"

"No, ten centimetres from the roots." She blinked at me.

"If you say so..." And instantly, the avatar had a new look. I stared. _So that is what my hair looks like when it's short..._ Mira had taken some freedom and made it layered, with the lower layers being a bit longer than what I told her, but it looked good. The slight waviness that was otherwise present was now invisible, the only noticeable trace of it being that the hair stood out in all kinds of crazy directions, making it look a bit like the hair of those who intentionally styled their hair to look wild. I looked away from the character and back to Mira as she said: "Okay, I take back any doubts I had. That looks _amazing_. Just let me give it a bit more volume." And she did so, leaving the black and white mottled hair looking even wilder than before. "Perfect! Now, I'm not letting you make any more changes to that, so let's move on. Let's take the height first, before we go into all the interesting details, shall we? Do you want to be longer or shorter?"

I frowned. At the moment, my height lay just below average, meaning that my reach was pretty bad, and if one considered that the most players would probably make their avatars even longer than their usual height, I would be at a disadvantage. But still... I was used to this height and knew how to combat bad reach. If I made my avatar longer, I would probably not have as good control over it as I would if I let it stay my own height.

"Leave it as is." Mira shrugged.

"Okay. Now..." She said, and by the way her grin grew, I had a feeling of that I would not like what was coming. When the sing-song declaration of: "how do you want your boobs?" came, I became sure of it. Blushing, I gave in to the fact that I was in for a long haul.

I glared at the energetic GM, daring her to propose one more change, but she finally seemed to be satisfied, wearing an expression much like the cat caught in the canary.

In the beginning, I had had a hard time standing up for myself as Mira proposed all kinds of strange ideas, as I didn't want to upset her, but after a while I realized that I would have to put my foot down. I was still rather reluctant about it at first, giving in pretty quickly, but as time went, I lost it for a second and growled at her. When she just smiled brightly in response, I saw that that might have been her plan all along; to make me more relaxed around her. After that, the process went a bit smoother, but she still came with her crazy proposals now and then, most likely just to tease me. For some reason, she seemed to like aggravating me.

But now, at last, we were finished. The demon standing before us had gone through a great makeover, but in the end, no big changes had been made. A lot of small ones, though, and it showed. She displayed the kind of wild and ferocious beauty one could find in a great predator, having completely left behind the serene and elegant visage displayed after the beautification, which had reminded me too much of Rizza.

"Are you satisfied?" The other woman asked, but the look she sent my way only allowed one answer to that question, and it wasn't 'no'. I smiled. It didn't matter, because that wasn't what I wanted to say.

"Yes, I am."

"Great!" Mira also started smiling. "Then we only have the wishes and choosing a name and a continent left. Let's take the wishes first, shall we? Any ideas?" I nodded. I had been thinking about this during the character creation process.

"Can I make my real physical abilities into stat values, and add them on to the stats the system will give me? I mean, is it possible?" The GM frowned, but nodded slowly.

"It should be possible... We'll probably have to do another download, though, as the data we transfer from the basic one wouldn't cover that much." I nodded.

"Okay." Mira smiled.

"Then, can you stand up? I am not sure how the scanner simulation program deal with people sitting down." I complied, getting up from my cream-coloured pillow and taking a couple of steps forward to reach a clear floor area while Mira manipulated her window, mumbling occasionally, until the scanning orbs flew out again.

** Commencing Full Scanning **

After the robotic voice fell quiet, they followed the same pattern as the last time, just much slower; I don't think that they reached even half the speed. Another difference from the first time was my reaction. Knowing what to expect this time, and that it wasn't dangerous, I remained relaxed as they revolved around me, indicating the state of the download. To my surprise, however, they reversed their process instead of flying back once they had reached the end of the simulation. I glanced over at Mira, who was staring avidly at her window.

"Will it take long?" She shook her head absently.

"Only one or two more laps, I think. I really didn't think that there was this much of a difference between a basic download and a full download... the amount of data is stunning." Just as she said that, however, the orbs suddenly froze and a white, semitransparent window appeared before me.

** Authority Verification **

It stated, with a glowing box below. Frowning, I looked over to Mira. "It demands your affirmation before it can continue, seeing as what it is copying over now can be very personal information. If you still want to proceed, you'll have to write down your password in the box." I nodded and pressed my left pointer finger against the box, causing a keyboard to unfold before it. Quickly typing my password in, I pressed enter. Both the keyboard and the window vanished immediately, but it took a couple of seconds before the orbs started up again, this time slightly faster than before. Completing first the second, then a third lap, they flew back to Mira's chair.

** Full Scanning Complete. Player ID: 83457 38037 **

A beep, and then:

** Now Transferring Complete Data To Avatar And Database. Old Stats Will Be Rewritten **

And like that, a large stat window appeared before us, easily as tall as me.

** Name: UNDECIDED | Gender: Female **

** Level: 1 | Specie: Demon (Mountain) | Class: None | Reputation: 0 | Health: 60 | Mana: 100 | Unspent skill points: 0 **

** Strength: 6 | Physique: 6 | Agility: 10 | Intelligence: 3 | Willpower: 10 | Wisdom: 10 | Charisma: 10 **

** Luck: Lucky | Abilities: Offensive (1) – Neutral (1) – Defensive (1) **

Mira whistled. "So this is the luck stat at work? All your stats are maxed out, for a mountain demon." Right after that the panel blurred, getting its stat values rewritten.

** Name: UNDECIDED | Gender: Female **

** Level: 1 | Specie: Demon (Mountain) | Class: None | Reputation: 0 | Health: 400 | Mana: 530 | Unspent skill points: 0 **

** Strength: 23 | Physique: 40 | Agility: 57 | Intelligence: 22 | Willpower: 53 | Wisdom: 33 | Charisma: 10 **

** Luck: Lucky | Abilities: Offensive (1) – Neutral (1) – Defensive (1) **

We read over the new values in shocked silence. Considering that one only got three skill points every time one levelled up, how long would it have taken to reach there values the normal way? My brain just blacked out.

"Wow..." Came a low whisper from Mira. "Now I understand why everyone call the wishes cheat keys..." I nodded slowly. Considering what I had read from the articles Theron gave me about the highly competitive nature of this game, then someone would surely hire people to kill me over and over again, just to keep me at level 1, if I ever showed anyone this...

Mira recovered from the shock faster than me, and said: "Well, we can't sit here all day. We've still got two wishes left. One of them will have to be beast-related, but otherwise you are free to choose whatever you want."

Shaking myself out of the shock, I opened my mouth to speak, but hesitated. The wish was quite hefty, so I would probably have to choose my words well if I wanted it granted. "I wish to design a new class for myself, and anyone else who happen to come upon it. Is that possible?"

Mira frowned. "I am not sure... To design a whole new class is heavy work for the technicians and programmers, especially on such short notice, but since you are willing to let it become available to everyone, and not just yourself, I think that it can be done. I'll have to ask the higher-ups, though. Just wait a moment, please." She closed her eyes, and with a soft mumble of: "Connect to administrator's centre," her avatar suddenly froze.

I spent a few moments just looking at her, expecting her to return pretty quickly, but as the time passed, I soon grew bored. Making my way back to the pillow heap, I found the cream coloured one again and sat down. Finding it uncomfortable, I wriggled around a bit before finding the problem. A smaller green pillow had made its way underneath the cream one, making an odd bulb in my seating. I was just pulling it out when I registered a motion out of the corner of my eye. I tensed briefly before recognizing the motion as Mira's consciousness returning to her avatar. Sitting myself up straight again, I looked at her expectantly.

"It can be done." She smiled. "We now have a direct sound link to one of our head programmers, so just state what you want the class to contain, and they'll speak up if it's not doable." I nodded.

"I was thinking about making it a sub-class of the warrior class, meaning that the new class will work just like the warrior class, apart from the fact that they will have an affinity for animals, letting them communicate with them as long as they aren't too far away, and borrow both their physical appearance and special abilities in exchange for a mana cost." There was a brief silence before a new voice spoke, the sound seemingly emanating from Mira's abandoned chair. I froze for a brief second, wary, before reminding myself that the link was sound only, and relaxed again. The voice was male, and somewhat raspy.

"We can work with that. Give us twenty-four hours, and we'll have the basics – like the class quest and stat window settings – up; the full details of the class will take longer, though. Just remember that your wish was to create this class, not get it, so you'll still have to work for it, and if you take another class before you find it, it's not our problem." I nodded before remembering that he couldn't see me, and said:

"Yes."

"Good. Was there anything else, or can we start now?" The voice replied gruffly, and as I shook my head, Mira said;

"No, that's all. You're free to go, Viper." Shortly after that, a low _click_ resounded, most likely signalling the end of the link. "A really skilled man, that Viper, but his manners need some work. Anyway, he'll get the job done." She smiled. "Two down, one to go, right? Let's get started on that last wish."

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><p><strong><strong>I'll just let you all know that I actually intended for the old chapter 2 to be finished here, in this chapter. But apparently the story had other ideas, and as the page count went up (if you're curious, I try to keep my chapters between 4-6 pages in 12 points times new roman in OpenOffice – not counting the author's notes), I realized that this will stretch on for another chapter.<strong>**

****For those who are curious – Tigris' stat boost equals 61 levels' worth of skill points. I've come to this decision after thinking about the later volumes; which level the ½ Prince characters are on when they take the fight to the real world and how Lolidragon's contraptions boost their abilities and stuff like that. If anyone thinks that it's too much, talk to me, and I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement. Just keep in mind that, though the stat points are enough for 61 levels, she is actually not as strong as someone on level 61, seeing as normal players would distribute their stat points to the stats they need them in (for example, a warrior wouldn't bother with putting any points in the intelligence stat).****

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><p><strong><strong>Answer to guest review:<strong>**

****To Alice: Thank you! Research and planning is a pain, but when I see that people appreciate it, it is all worth it :D****

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><p><strong><strong>I managed to avoid monsternotes this time! :D<strong>**

****You know the drill. Reviews and constructive criticism = cookie and hug ^^****


	8. Deciding Upon a Companion

**Note: The content of this chapter was previously written in chapter 2. This new version is much better, at least according to me.**

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><p><strong>Thanks, hugs and cookies for reviewing go to krad09 and Vendelareader this chapter. Also, a big thank you to all who took the time to answer my poll (which is still up, by the way, for those who haven't voted and want to do so). I appreciate it ^^<strong>

**Disclaimer: You know what? My mushrooms are thriving! It makes me so happy :D Mushroom soup, anyone?**

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><p>Chapter 8:<p>

Deciding Upon a Companion

"Since that one was beast-related, you're free to choose whatever you want for your last wish!" Mira exclaimed, causing me to stand at a loss. _Right... There was one wish left..._ I had absolutely no idea of what to wish for.

"Umm... what do most people wish for?" I was blushing again as I scratched my neck. At this rate, it would become a very bad habit. I could see Mira's right hand twitching. Most likely, she was trying to hold herself back from hugging me, as I had observed the same behaviour a few times during the character creation process, sometimes resulting in a hug and sometimes not. This time she apparently managed to restrain herself, however, and said:

"Well, the wishes aren't all that common, you know, but if we are just talking about 'if I had I wish, then I would wish for', the most common things are equipment – especially weapons – pets, more levels and money, I think."

Thinking it over, I immediately discarded the extra levels – my stats covered that already. Shortly thereafter, the money followed. It seemed like a boring wish, even if it was probably very useful. So that left equipment and a pet... Going on a sudden impulse, I said:

"Pet. I want a pet."

"Okay, what kind of pet do you want?" Finding myself gaping like a stranded fish again, I gave the GM a small grateful smile when she supplemented me with some information. "The strongest kinds are also the rarest, and are without exception mythical beasts. Do you have any mythical beast you are interested in?"

"Not in particular, but I'd like a pet with wings." That way, I'd be able to fly despite my choice of species, once I got my class; and I wouldn't have to worry about the wings getting in the way, either, as I could just remove them when I wasn't using them.

Mira hummed and brought out a window, sliding it over and setting it so that I also could see it. "This is a list of pets with wings, with the strongest put on top. The number you see to the right of the name shows the average of the medium level of its stats, and are what they are sorted according to right now. If you want to look up the top placings according to a certain stat, you can just hit the sorting button at the bottom."

I nodded absently, already letting my eyes roam over the list greedily. _Dragon, wyvern, griffin, hippogriff, pegasus, roc... there are so many._ Meanwhile, Mira continued to speak. "The three most used methods for choosing a pet – if there is a choice, and not just a case of random allotment – are 1: Choose the most good- cute- impressing- and so on -looking one; sadly, this is very commonly used. 2: Choose one that compliments your build, meaning that a mage will choose a melee-type pet, and vice versa, and 3: Choose one with the same type of build as you, to boost your potential. This one is most common to those with a team, as they already have teammates to cover up their weak spots."

Nodding, I pressed the sorting button, calling out a pop-up window showing the different alternatives for sorting. Pressing _Willpower_, the mana stat, I hoped to bring out the magic-oriented pets. I would most likely be playing solitarily, so I needed a pet that could cover my weaknesses, and since I planned to be a warrior, a magic-oriented pet was the type I needed. Getting further pop-up windows, I chose to just display the top 10 results, with some information attached:

** Phoenix: A bird of fire, said to be capable of rebirth. **

** Thunderbird: A giant bird of thunder, said to bring storms in the wake of its wings. **

** Wyvern: A poisonous or flame-spitting dragon-like creature, only sporting hind legs and wings. **

** Siren: A human-bird hybrid with a deadly voice. **

** Räsvelg: A giant eagle, living at the edge of the world, giving it wind with its wings. **

** Sphinx: A lion with bird's wings and a woman's head, lover of riddles. **

** Hippalectryon: A horse-bird hybrid, with the hind part being a rooster. Said to be connected to the sun. **

** Gargoyle: A stone-beast. Gargoyles wield the power of water. **

** Ravinn: Descendants of Odin's two ravens Huginn and Muninn, the ravinns are capable of seeing the future and past. **

** Hoodwink: An elusive bird, only ever seen out of the corner of one's eyes, briefly, before it disappears. **

The top two shared the same numbers, leaving them tied for first place, with the rest appearing in sinking order. I reached out with my left hand and pressed the thunderbird. I wanted a pet that was as strong as possible, and out of this one and the phoenix, this one appealed the most to me. Phoenixes were associated with life, healing and light. It would feel wrong to have one.

** Thunderbird: A giant bird of thunder, said to bring storms in the wake of its wings. **

**** Health: 30-60 | Mana: 90-100  
>Strength: 1-3 | Physique: 3-6 | Agility: 3-6 | Intelligence: 6-10 | Willpower: 9-10 | Wisdom: 8-10<br>Abilities: Offensive (0) – Neutral (2) – Defensive (2) ****

**** Size: ~10 cm at hatching, reaches full height at level 50, when it reaches ~2 metres (beak to tail end), with a wingspan of ~4,5 metres ****

**** Colours: White, all greys, black, dark blues and purples, light blue and yellow. Beak and feet come in white, light blue, light yellow, greys and black. Eyes are blue or yellow ****

**** Appearance: A thunderbird's basic physique is that of an eagle, albeit with a different coloration and teeth in their beak. They also have claws on the joints of their wings and spikes running down their spines. Their tail is a feathered lizard's tail, with spikes running down it and longer feathers at the end.****

**** Characteristics: Thunderbirds are in general intelligent, powerful, proud, solitary and quick-tempered beings, capable of great wrath. ****

**** Loyalty: The characteristics of the thunderbird makes it very hard to befriend, and it is one of the few species with which you will have to work up the loyalty level from level 1. Loyalty levels lie between 1 and 100, and are normally halved every time a pet changes owner. Every time a thunderbird switches owner, though, they go back to 1/100. This annoyance is compensated by the ability ****_Loyalty_**** (see under "Abilities") ****

Having reached the end of the window, I opened the neutral and defensive ability windows, causing them to line up next to each other. Thunderbirds came with three abilities, of which one was double-natured.

**** NEUTRAL ABILITIES ****

**** Weather Sense – Ability Level 1; allows user to predict the weather, and makes them impervious to weather-based attacks and stat- reducers, Neutral + Defensive, no mana consumption, always active, Long-ranged + Contact activated ****

**** Loyalty – Ability Level 1; for every loyalty level gained, the stats of both user and owner are boosted slightly, Neutral, no mana consumption, always active ****

**** DEFENSIVE ABILITIES ****

**** Weather Sense – Ability Level 1; allows user to predict the weather, and makes them impervious to weather-based attacks and stat-reducers, Neutral + Defensive, no mana consumption, always active, Long-ranged + Contact activated ****

**** Static Body – Ability Level 1; the user's body crackles with electricity, harming those who touch it, Defensive, currently consumes 10 mana per contact, currently lasts 1-3 seconds upon contact, Contact activated ****

Coming to a decision, I nodded.

"I want a thunderbird." Mira, having read over my shoulder, frowned.

"Are you sure? The _Loyalty_ ability may be useful, but it just isn't worth it. Do you know how hard it is to raise the loyalty of pets? And it just gets harder the lower it is. Besides, they grow to be _massive –_ it'll be a pain to cart it around. Why not get a phoenix instead? It might not be so good if you are looking for an unusual pet, as they are the most common in the strength class, but there is a reason for that; they are good pets with useful abilities, and besides, they've got just as good stats as the thunderbirds." I shook my head.

"I don't care about the fact that they are common; I just don't like them." Mira looked at me questioningly.

"Why n-" Apparently changing her mind, she interrupted herself. "Never mind. A thunderbird it is, then. Just don't go regretting it later." Closing down the pet windows, she put in a few quick commands on her window. "The egg will be placed in your pouch, and everything about it will be randomized – apart from the species, of course. But with that luck stat of yours, I don't doubt that its stats will be good." She grinned at me. "To hatch it, you will need to gather two silvers and go to a pet shop; there is one in every major and beginning town or city. You'll decide on a name there."

I broke out into a big smile. I don't know why the idea of a pet exited me so, but I felt really happy. "Okay!"

"Well then, we're almost done here. All that's left is to decide on a continent and a name." When she said that, I my happiness died out. _That means that I'll leave her soon..._ "Hey, what's up with the sad face?" She asked, and jumped on me, grabbing my cheeks and stretching them out, effectively startling me. "Do you really think that I would abandon my precious little kitten? We can still meet and talk to each other in game, you know. I'll probably be in a different region from you, since me and my team are pretty high-leveled, but that does _not_," here she stopped stretching my cheeks and squished them instead, leaning closer "mean we cannot PM each other. In fact, I expect you to contact me from time to time, and ask me about stuff whenever you are having trouble with something. If you don't, I'll take my bloody vengeance by screaming at you until your ears bleed and your head is about to split." At the last sentence she had glared at me with her voice lowered, and actually managed to give a blood-thirsty impression, something I would never have believed the positive and happy woman capable of. A bit shocked, I nodded to indicate my consent, not thinking that I would be able to talk properly with my cheeks pressed together like that. In an instant, the threatening atmosphere around the GM vanished, making way to a big smile. Giving my cheeks a last stretch before letting them go, she sat back.

"Great! Now, back to business. I'm going to put you in Central, since that is the continent I'm playing in, and if you want to move to another continent, it isn't going to be _too_ expensive to do so from Central, no matter which one you want to go to, like it would have been if you wanted to move between, for example, the Northern and Southern continent." I shrugged. I hadn't had any preferences when it came to a continent, and if Mira was in Central, then I definitely didn't have anything against playing there.

"Then..." Throwing her hands up into the air, she exclaimed: "Drum roll, please!" I jumped in my seat when she actually got one which echoed through the open space. "We are down to our last decision! Name-choosing time! Which name do you want?" I just blinked, stumped. Wound up with excitement and worry about playing, I had forgotten that little detail. "Oooookay..." Mira murmured and brought up a window. "Lessee..." Placing her tongue in between her teeth theatrically, she wrote something using her pointer fingers and big movements. "Here we go; beast-, bird- and cat-related names and words!" Passing the window over to me with a quick flick of her wrist, she said: "Look through it."

My eyes quickly scanning the list, they soon snagged on one name; _Pandemonium_. It was beautiful, and had its roots in the name of the Greek god of the wild: Pan. I smiled and told Mira of my choice. She nodded approvingly and said with a smirk:

"That is a good name, fitting of the Beast Queen. I'll set it." Then she rose, indicating for me to do the same. With a flourish, the pillows disappeared. She hugged me before jumping back up into her chair. "Good luck out there, okay?" I nodded in response as she looked over at my avatar, which we had ignored while setting the wishes. After a pressing a few buttons, the space between me and my character suddenly started shrinking, without either of us moving. As we melted together, I heard Mira shout: "And don't you dare forget to contact me!" before the darkness overtook me. Panicking as I remembered my last stint in the sensory void, I tried to break free, but to no avail. I didn't have any body to break free with any more.

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><p><strong><strong>And we are <strong>**_finally _****done with the old chapter 2! In the next chapter, I'll start up on the content of the old chapter 3. Let's see how long that gets, shall we?****

****Okay, notes for this chapter...****

****For those who didn't read the old version: The third wish was initially meant to be a wish for equipment, but the plot bunnies attacked and it became a pet instead. Tigris – sorry, Pandemonium – was always meant to have a pet, but was to come upon it later, inside the game. In the first draft it was meant to be a dragon, then it became a wyvern, and in the end, it turned out to be a thunderbird. What do you all think about that? Was it a good idea? If anyone is wondering about the thunderbird, or any of the other pets, feel free to contact me. Or google it, whichever you see fit. Ravinns are the only ones who don't really exist. I may have done some changes to the others, though.****

****The loyalty thingy was another plot bunny – not planned at all, just suddenly showed up in my mind, and I thought: "Hey, I can work with this!"****

****As you may or may not have noticed, Mira has adopted Pandemonium (in a way). She won't be in her team, or appear very often (at least not in the first half of the story), but she'll kind of hang around in the shadows as an older sister figure.****

****And Tigris is now left-handed (and has multiple personalities, but I'll let you figure that one out for yourselves - things are more interesting that way), if you hadn't noticed it yet. She was right-handed in the old version, but in the new chapter five it suddenly hit me that she fit much better as a left-handed person. I don't know why, but it just felt that way. It is slightly annoying, though, since I am right-handed, so I have to flip everything inside my head before I write it down.****

****And the author's note ran away with me again -_-" I really have to do something about that...****

****Anyway, the special offer of cookie and hug for reviewers still stand. Those who give good constructive criticism get two cookies!****


	9. Heading Out

**Note: The content of this chapter was previously written in chapter 3. This new version is much better, at least according to me.**

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><p><strong>These are the thanks, cookies (two each) and hugs due since the last chapter: krad09, Fanfic wanderer (your reply is at the bottom of the chapter) and Vendelareader! All of you left amazingly long reviews that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside at the thought of that people would put down so much effort for me :3 Thank you!<strong>

**And I'll transfer these thanks from the original chapter 3: **Vendelareader, Kagayaku Midori and Crashing Planes, thank you so very much for reviewing back then ^^****

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><p><strong>WARNING: Some violence, I guess, since Pandemonium heads out for her first monster hunt in this chapter.<strong>

**Disclaimer****:**

**SeaDevil: No! I can't do it! I CAN'T! *grabs and shakes Bobby* **_**You**_**do it!**

**Bobby: What? Why me?!**

**SeaDevil: Because you're my alter ego. You're supposed to do the things I can't! Like if I want to hit my teacher, but can't because you just don't do things like that, then you're supposed to hit my teacher!**

**Bobby: Yeah, that's true, but what does that have to do with the disclaimer?**

**SeaDevil: I can't bring myself to say that I don't own ½ Prince, so you so it!**

**Bobby: I don't want to do it either! Can't we just **_**not**_** write the disclaimer, be happy if someone actually thinks we own ½ Prince, and if they want to sue us, we can just say that we never actually said we owned ½ Prince, we just forgot to say that we didn't!**

**SeaDevil: That's... actually a good idea... Why didn't I think of that?!**

**Bobby: Well, technically, you did, since I am you.**

****SeaDevil: What?! You are?!****

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><p>Chapter 9:<p>

Heading Out

As I took a breath, I felt stone rub against my skin, as well as a slight sense of deja vu. Silently hoping that I wouldn't have to go through the sensory deprivation every time I logged in (the gasping-for-breath-while-trying-to-find-my-bearing s thing got very old, very fast), I started lifting myself up off the ground. Not being able to sense anything was easily the scariest thing I had ever experienced. I had had no control, no free will. I had only been able to hope that the darkness would dissolve.

As my face left the ground, I cautiously opened my eyes, revealing a town square cloaked in the soft grey light of pre-dawn, confusing me. Considering the fact that I had entered the game during late morning or early lunch and spent a couple of hours (at least that is what it felt like) in the character creation process, it should be early afternoon now, not early morning. Thoroughly befuddled, I settled on just observing my surroundings for now, and determine where the lost hours went later. The square was cobbled with gray stone and surrounded by orange-roofed white buidings draped with ivy and with balconies overflowing with various flowers, which had closed their blossoms for the night. The air was fresh at this time of day, as the dust had settled down and the rocks had cooled during the night, leaving only the clean smell of water from a small stream that was passing through the open space, intercepted here and there by rocks to allow easy crossing, and the smell of greenery from a small patch of grass inhabited by two great oaks beyond it. A faint wind ruffles my hair, carrying with it a whiff of bread; a sign that the bakeries had already started preparing for the coming day.

Then something odd; demons. Or players, I guess. I tensed up and got to my my feet as quickly as I could. _Why the fuck are there players around at this time of day? Most sane people should be sleeping now, unless there was something important going on. Including me. What is up with time in this place?!_

Quickly noticing that none of them seemed to be paying me all that much attention, I relaxed slightly and disgustedly wiped my face clear of the serene and confident expression I had been wearing moments earlier. This was to be my place of retreat where I could relax and be myself. I should never wear the princess mask here. It would probably be a very hard habit to break – not impossible, but hard – as whenever I was in front of this many people in the past (or any people outside of the family and the mad scientist, for that matter) I was always pretending to be her. That I had managed to stay myself in front of the GM woman was already a miracle, but that might have to do with the fact that I was at my wit's end when the game finally dropped me into that strange place, and by the time I had recovered somewhat, she had already dragged me into her pace.

As I was thinking, a gentle light appeared on the ground not that far away from me. It slowly extended outward before disappearing, revealing a body laying sprawled out on the ground, limbs sticking out in a laugh-inducing manner. I recognised the stout demon as another player who had just started and wondered why they had new players starting up like that. _Maybe it is due to the sensory void?_ Perhaps it took a while for one to get fully connected to one's senses again after that, and if the avatar had been standing up, then everyone's first experience in _Second Life _would be to fall down. Then it was probably better to start on the ground from the very beginning, even if the poses may just have been a streak of cruel humour from the developer's side, providing entertainment for everyone but the person put in them.

While I was pondering this, I was also looking over his equipment and I comparing it to my own. In a new place, it was not a good thing to stick out, and from what I knew of the crazy GM, it was possible that she had given me some weird starting equipment, just because it "looked better."

Satisfied that our outfits looked roughly the same – white, long-armed tunic, brown belt and pouch, grey bottoms and soft brown leather boots lacking a proper sole and being held onto the calves with leather bands – I nodded. The only difference was that since he was lucky enough to be a male, he had gotten a couple of baggy pants, while I had been put in a skirt going to my mid-thigh. It was really somewhat unfair, considering that pants were easier to move around in, but since _Second Life_ was based off a medieval environment, maybe it wasn't so strange. In fact, I should probably count myself lucky that someone in the designing department had decided against giving us ankle-length skirts, and actually thought of giving us a pair of tight black shorts beneath the slitted skirt that probably became the compromise between keeping to the environment and the complaints and practicalities.

I was just about to leave when I remembered something. Left hand flying to my forehead, I felt the smooth leather band of the Beast Crown. Quickly pulling at the slip-knot by my left temple to widen the loop, I pulled it over my horns and ears, let it fall down around my neck and tucked it in beneath my shirt. The crowns could not be unequipped, but they could be hidden, and even if no-one but the owners and some of the top people in the _SL_ company knew what the crowns looked like, a newbie waking up with a head accessory would certainly look suspicious. Making sure that it wasn't visible – the feathers felt soft against my skin, and the beads and claws lay coldly against my stomach – I reached up to my head again. Running both my hands along my newly-acquired horns and pointy ears, I tried to get used to the new sensation. It felt odd, having limbs that you knew were yours, since you felt what happened to them, but which you still didn't recognise. Especially the horns. I had kind of expected there to be no feeling in them, but when I experimentally scratched them, it felt a bit like I had run a nail across another nail, or a tooth. Tugging a bit at my left horn, I felt my whole head swivel. _Okay, note to self; do not let anyone grab your horns._ With that amount of heaving power, it would become much easier for anyone who wanted to to snap my neck, or force me down to the ground.

Seeing the man sitting under the trees staring at me, I was brought out of my self-examination and blushed slightly before walking away, heading towards the stream to my left, away from him. _Maybe it's a bit strange, feeling your horns like that..._

_Well, no shit, Kitten_, I thought with a mental facepalm._ But really, since when does other people's opinions matter? As long as I don't stick out too much, things should be fine._

Traversing the city, I almost forgot that I was in a game. I had read it over and over: "99% realistic virtual reality", but I had never really understood it until now. I could not discern this place from the real world at all, even with my heightened senses. Of course, I had never been to a place similar to this in reality, but from what I could discern...

As I went further, I really started to suspect that the only things that kept the realism percentage down was the general absence of the misery present in reality, no matter which year it was, and all the magic and non-existent creatures that could be seen everywhere.

Stopping in a shaded alley between two of the white houses – from what I had seen so far, it looked like the whole town had a similar design to the square I had woken up in – I frowned. I really should be headed for the town border, to find some monsters to hunt down so that I could raise my level, but I had no idea of which direction I should go in to get there as fast as possible. After thinking for a while, I looked at the cracked walls to either side of me. _Maybe?_

Finding some good handholds on the wall standing to my right, I heaved myself up. In no time, I was crouching on the sloping roof, distributing my weight over both my hands and feet to keep the tiles from cracking or sliding. I almost slipped, however, when a loud voice suddenly came out of nowhere, along with a system window, announcing:

** System notice: Pandemonium has learned a new ability – Climbing **

Steadying myself again, I took a second look at the window. Carefully lifting my left hand, I pressed the name of the ability, the short command used to display more information on it.

**** Climbing – Ability Level 1; makes it easier for user to find hand- and footholds while climbing, Neutral, no mana consumption, duration is action controlled ****

_Well, that could be useful._ Shutting down the window, I made my way up to the ridge of the roof, where I stood up straight again. Surveying my surroundings, I realized that I must be somewhere in the middle of the town, as the sea of orange, grey, white and green seemed to stretch equally far in all directions before giving way to the green and yellow colours of the rolling plains and wooded hills beyond. Lifting my nose to the wind and closing my eyes, I took in all the scents surrounding me, relishing in the freedom of being able to do exactly what I wanted to from here on out. My peace of mind was abruptly interrupted, however. Opening my eyes hastily and tensing in a combat stance upon the thin ridge, it took me a couple of moments to recognise the source of the commotion.

** System notice: Pandemonium has learned a new ability – Wind Reading **

Relaxing again, I frowned with a slight heat crawling up my cheeks. I would have to get used to that. If I kept learning new abilities at this pace – which I probably would, at least for a while, considering my high wisdom stat – it would just look foolish if I jumped into the air every ten metres. Opening up the window containing the specifics of the ability, I read:

**** Wind Reading – Ability Level 1; ******allows user to find and track scents more easily, Neutral, no mana consumption, always active, Long-ranged **

Closing the windows, I picked a random direction and started trotting towards the edge of the roof. In a couple of paces, I had heightened my pace to a full-out sprint along the ridge and leapt across the gap between the house I had climbed up on and the next, on the reasoning that it would probably go faster to travel like this, since I wouldn't get lost or bump into any people.

Upon my landing, two system windows showed up, almost causing me to seriously mess it up.

** System notice: Pandemonium has learned a new ability – Runner **

** System notice: Pandemonium has learned a new ability – Leap **

Quickly dismissing them after I had regained my footing after the stumble, I continued on. I could read more about them later.

In what felt like no time at all, I reached the town borders in a place where great pines grew almost all the way up to the houses. During the way, I had gotten several messages indicating that my _Leap _and_ Runner _abilities had levelled up. Flipping off the roof of the two-floors building I was currently on, I flexed my legs to absorb the impact of the landing and spread my arms to keep balance, causing a window to announce itself loudly before I even had time to stand up straight.

** System notice: Pandemonium has learned a new ability – Acrobatics **

Remaining crouched, I let my arms return to my side. _It was that easy to gain that ability? I thought that it would be hard, if not impossible, to gain abilities inherent to other species... _Shaking off my slight befuddlement, I stood up and took my first steps toward the forest, great towering pines shading the dry, needle- and grass-covered ground. Then, I remembered something and stopped, opening the small pouch fastened to my belt, thus causing the inventory window to unfold.

Only throwing a cursory look at the items listed as "equipped", as – apart from the "Beast Crown" - they all just said "Beginner's" and then whatever type of clothing it was; "Beginner's Tunic," for example. Arriving at the bottom of the list, I saw the "Pet Egg," and then... nothing else. Frowning, I looked through the list again, trying to sort it in different ways and see if there were any other pockets in the pouch.

There weren't.

_Aren't beginners supposed to start with clothes, a knife, and some pieces of barley bread? And yet I only have my clothes and the thunderbird egg..._ Scratching my neck, I gave an irritated click of my tongue I could manage anyway, since I could fight without a weapon, and if I could just down some monsters, I would have the money to buy some food, preventing me from starving in this game where you could actually die from lack of food or water, but that didn't prevent the annoyance rising up within me. _This is quite a serious bug... I should probably contact the crazy GM woman about it._ I quickly discarded the idea, though. I didn't want to be deemed as weak or helpless because I had to rely on her help, especially this soon after starting. _I can do this on my own_, I decided. _I will climb in this world by my own power._

Having made my resolution, I started walking deeper into the forest, letting the high, dry grasses brush against my bare legs and the shadows dance over me. The scent of pine and dry earth permeated the air, and the wind had stopped, leaving the air heavy and warm. Too warm, almost. If it hadn't been so dry out, it surely would have been unbearable. As it was, the heat was slowly draining me. I would have to be done with my hunt quickly and return to the city so that I could get something to drink if I didn't want to get dehydrated. I was already sweating, my clothes and the feathers of my crown starting to stick to my body, and it was only bound to get worse when I started hunting.

At first, I had wondered why the demons' starting town had been so beautiful, green and bright, since I had imagined that demons would start in a darker place, but during my run through the town, I had realized that all the plants I recognised in that place (which was quite a lot, thanks to Doc's odd collections and spontaneous lectures) were poisonous, and now I saw that with this hellish climate in its surroundings, the town acted as a giant flytrap. With that dazzling outer appearance, it gave promises of shade, a chance to cool off and a couple of drinks to weary travellers, luring them into the middle of the demons' realm. Considering this, it was actually quite ingeniously designed, even if the demons now occupying it probably had a bit more peaceful intentions than their town suggested.

I was brought out of my musings by a faint _swoosh_ing sound, accompanied by a faint wind brushing against my neck. Ducking swiftly, I barely avoided a set of razor-sharp talons. Shifting my weight to the right, I lifted my left leg and delivered a roundhouse kick to whatever it had been that attacked me, sending it flying into a nearby tree in a flurry of feathers.

** System notice: Pandemonium has learned a new ability – Sensing **

**** Attack successful, Trickster Talon HP -52 ****

**** Attack successful, Trickster Talon HP -12 ****

** Trickster Talon is Dazed **

** System notice: Pandemonium has learned a new ability – Kick of Heaven's Wrath **

Irritatedly dismissing the windows – they were getting in the way – I stalked up to my opponent before it could take to the air again, ruthlessly snapping the neck off of the bat-winged, lizard-tailed vulture.

**** Critical hit successful, Trickster Talon HP -6 ****

**** Trickster Talon has died ****

**** Pandemonium has reached level 2 ****

**** Pandemonium has reached level 3 ****

**** Pandemonium has reached level 4 ****

**** Pandemonium's experience has increased to 14% ****

**** System notice: Pandemonium has learned a new ability – Neckwringer ****

_It must have been a pretty high-levelled monster, if it boosted my levels like that. _Before me, the vulture-like creature was enveloped in a light very much like the one that had transported the other newbie demon to the square, and disappeared. In its place lay a couple of scruffy feathers and a claw. Not seeing any use for them right now, since the claw was incredibly dull, I put them in my pouch. They might be useful later.

_This is probably a good hunting spot for me, as my stat boost allows me to hunt stronger monsters._ Then I frowned. _How come that no others are hunting here? High-levelled monsters are probably rare around starting towns, so this forest should be the ideal stepping stone for those who are about to head out for the rest of the continent..._ Even if the number of new people starting wasn't very high, compared to what it was at the very beginning of _Second Life_, there were still quite a few, especially now that the game was regaining popularity, and demon was a fairly popular race... _There should be at least one or two players out here_, I concluded. That there wasn't made me wary. _Is there something special about this place that makes players avoid it? _Then, as if on cue, the hairs in the back of my neck rose.

Putting my back to the tree I had sent the monster flying into, so as to prevent any surprise attack from behind, I looked around. It didn't take long to spot the source of my unease. Flocked in the branches of all the nearby trees were dozens of the flying creatures, glaring intently at me with beaks clattering, wings flapping and tails swishing. When I looked up at them, they also started emitting hoarse cries, stretching out their long and scabbed necks toward me. Then, as if of one mind, all of them alighted at the same time, diving toward me.

"Fuck."

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><p><strong>I guess you deserve a bit of explanation about how I have changed the experience point system. In the novels, it is a point-based system. It still is, in a way, because the players can <strong>**still view how many points they need to get to the next level, if they manipulate their stat windows a bit, but you see: I am a lazy person. I, quite frankly, do not have the energy to find the model on how the experience point system works, so I will just adopt the percentage-system to make things easier for myself. If anyone knows the model, though, please contact me and I will gladly go back and do some re-writes. Until then, I hope that the current version will work well enough.**

**Also, if anyone knows the proper way for time to work in SL, please, please, ****_please_**** contact me. I've looked and looked, but I just can't find it! It is unbelievably frustrating. For now, I've gone with that since most people play at night, the times of night and day are reversed, so that it is day in SL when it is night in the real world and vice versa.**

**…well, almost. I've shifted it a slight bit, so that it will be early morning if you log in in the late afternoon, and night in the early hours of morning (to remind people that they need to log off and get some real sleep, too). It works well enough, I guess, but I would much rather just keep to canon than invent a timetable of my own...**

**And I have a problem with the word "stomach." It ****_never_**** wants to cooperate. Either it becomes stomch, or stmach, or stomack... well, you get the idea. It is infuriating. I was thinking of just putting all those various misspellings on auto-correct to the proper spelling, but then I will never learn, will I? Still, even though it is my own choice, it gets annoying.**

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><p><strong><span>Reply to Fanfic wanderer<span>:**

**I'm glad I didn't give up, too. This story is my baby, so though it might take me a while to complete it, it will be finished, sooner or later.**

**...most probably, much, _much_ later.**

**And this time I didn't keep my promise of updating every second week, just after I had gotten a review complimenting me on it -_-" And I was really happy to hear that you are looking forward to my story, too (really, it is one of the nicest compliments a writer can get)... I am a horrible person... T-T**

**And I practically _live_ on reader's opinions, now that I saw how close I got to the Mary-Sue swamp. I'm figuring that my readers will probably notice if something is off before I do with my author and first-person-perspective blindfolds on.**

**To be honest, I abandoned the wyvern idea mostly because I felt that it would be so obvious that I really wanted it to be a dragon, but wanted it to be more special at the same time -_-" Then I stumbled upon the thunderbird, and the plotbunnies attacked :D**

**Your idea about a long tail for the thunderbird... hmmm... I didn't think of that. It is a good idea, though, so I will think about it. The only thing I have against it is that I kinda associate long tails with phoenixes, and I want the two birds to be very different from each other, but maybe I can make it work...**

**And also (I don't blame you for being confused on the matter, because I really was quite unclear about it) Pandemonium will not ride or be lifted by her pet, she will use her class' ability to grow her own wings, modelled after her pet's... do you understand what I mean, or should I find some other way to explain it?**

**You're right about the loyalty stat, even though the thunderbird's brand of loyalty will be quite... odd. Oh, the fun I will have with that bird *evil grin***

**Lastly, I thank you for the long and detailed review, for sticking with me for this long and for trusting in me. Really, it warms my heart ^^**

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><p><strong>I seem to be unable to keep my AN short, don't I? -_-"**

**Anyway, fresh and warm cookie and hug for reviewers! And yes, I am still giving those who give me constructive criticism special treatment by giving them two cookies :3**


	10. Robin

**Note: The content of this chapter was previously written in chapter 3. This new version is much better, at least according to me.**

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><p><strong><strong>Thanks (and cookies and hugs, as usual) for reviewing the last chapter goes to: krad09, Fanfic Wanderer and TheQueen'sknight ^^<strong>**

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><p><strong><strong>Disclaimer: I forgot it.<strong>**

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><p>Chapter 10:<p>

Robin

After having calculated my odds, I did the only sensible thing: I ran.

Even if my stats had been given a big boost thanks to my wish, this was too much. With that many monsters, I would be overwhelmed sooner or later, no matter how good of a fight I put up. I might be able to take one or two of the monsters with me, but if they had AI's that were developed enough, the ones that I had already wounded would stay back, letting the healthy ones lead the assault.

**System notice: Pandemonium has learned a new ability – Sprint**

I growled and threw my arm up, doing a quick dismissal of the window by simply swiping it to the side. _I don't have time for this!_ Those incessant windows disturbed my concentration, got in the way of me hearing what went on behind and blocked my line of sight. Leaning forward a bit, I put even more strength into my strides, feeling the soles of my boots drive up the soft, needle-covered ground.

**Neutral Ability: Sprint has reached level 2**

**Neutral Ability: Runner has reached level 7**

I had the urge to scream. _I don't fucking care!_ I barely had time to swipe the annoyances away before another appeared.

**Neutral Ability: Runner has reached level 8**

Quickly removing the damn thing from my line of sight, I listened for the sound of flapping wings behind me. Deeming them far enough away, I dove in under a bush, coming to a stop with a roll, momentarily cursing my horns for getting in the way.

**System notice: Pandemonium has learned a new ability – Sensitive Hearing**

**System notice: Pandemonium has learned a new ability – Hiding**

Gritting my teeth, I growled out: "System; settings," as low as I could, to keep the blasted birds from hearing me. I didn't know how keen their sense of hearing was.

Finally having a window I actually _wanted_ to have in front of me in my line of sight, I manipulated it as swiftly as I could and turned all kinds of pop-up windows completely off. To still have a grasp of what my HP and mana stood at, however, I had them appear as bars in the left edge of my vision as soon as either of them wasn't full. That way, I wouldn't exhaust or kill myself by accident. Right now, I saw that at least one of the abilities I had used required mana, because there was a dent in the blue bar, which was a bit longer than my currently completely full and green HP bar. There came a soft rustle from my left, a shadow appearing in the corner of my eye.

"What are you doing?"

My reaction was quite instinctual; I attacked this new threat which had shown up. Pushing myself up into a crouch, I let my left leg come around and knock my opponent off their feet. As soon as this was done, I drew my leg in underneath me again, before stretching it backwards and planting it to the ground to shift my centre of gravity, allowing me to push off with my right leg, sending me up over my foe. Steadying myself with my left hand on the ground, next to his head, I fisted my right and was prepared to punch his nose in.

Was prepared, but didn't do it, because my unexpected assailant was probably only eight or nine years old. We just blinked at each other for a couple of seconds, my hand hovering just a decimetre or so from his face, before he exclaimed:

"That was _sooo_ cool! Can you teach me how to do that?" I just stared at him as he was smiling a smile so bright that for a moment, I imagined sparkles starting up around him. Sitting back up, I threw a quick glance around to make sure that the vulture-like monsters hadn't spotted us.

_Is that a normal reaction?_ I puzzled, subconciously tilting my head to the right as I studied him. Somehow, I didn't think that it was. I mean, even if he wasn't combat-trained, he should have felt at least a little bit threatened or frightened by being attacked, right? And not address a potentially violent stranger in such a friendly manner?

The boy was grey-eyed and brown-haired; the kind of brown that could have been compared to golden caramel, had it not been just a bit too greyish-looking. It stood straight out from his scalp, despite it being about one decimetre long, as if defying the laws of gravity. _That looks... fluffy_, I thought, my brain still not having competely gotten out of the shock it received from his odd reaction to my earlier attack.

Then I gave myself a mental shake. _Be more aware of your surroundings, Kitten! Look at his back!_ Switching my focus, I noticed something that I really should have seen much earlier; the strange boy was an angel. As he had not sat up from his sprawled position, despite the fact that I had backed off and left enough room fot him to do so, his delicate brown, beige and white wings were currently trapped underneath his body, half-spread and weighing down the nearby branches of the bush.

I was utterly confused, frowning and trying to make sense of this new fact._ I didn't go very far, so this should still be the outskirts of the demon starting town, shouldn't it? How did an angel get here? Especially one on such a low level... _Of course, I could not be entirely sure of the boy's level, but since he was still wearing his starting equipment, with the only visible improvement being a knobbly branch still sporting a couple of green leafs which was strapped to his back with a thin leather cord, I came to the somewhat safe conclusion that his level must be quite low.

A sudden feeling of incredulous doubt came over me. _The game designers couldn't have put the demon and angel starting towns next to each other... right?_

Remembering that the kid had asked me a question, I replied with a simple; "No." My mental circuits were too occupied with other things to come up with anything more complex, and besides, it didn't seem right to be teaching a child how to fight. _But still, I was a child when I started fighting, wasn't I?_ After barely a second's deliberation on that, I came to the conclusion:

_But then, my childhood wasn't exactly normal. As a matter of fact, it was extremely fucked up._

"But why not?" He whined, his eyes seemingly becoming bigger, and starting to glisten as he bounced up from his prone position, so that he now was sitting up, his face much too close to mine for comfort and his wings spread out a bit behind him, feathers tousled. "I'll be a good student! I promise!" Seeing and hearing that, my cheeks had heated up again, and I had an urge to fidget. "Please? Pretty please?" Turning away from him didn't help much. _What is up with this weird situation, anyway?_ I commented to myself somewhere in a corner of my mind.

I didn't have the chance to answer that question – or think up a good response to the angel's plea – before I heard the thunderous sound of flapping wings growing closer, coupled with screams sounding like a combination of ripping metal and hoarse frogs. Realizing that the mutated corpse-eaters had spotted us, I flew to my feet. After a brief period of contemplation, I bent down and grabbed the kid's left arm with mine, tugging him up to his feet hastily.

"So you'll teach me?" He exclaimed hopefully. I just shook my head irritably and started tugging him away. Couldn't the kid realize that this was not a good time for casual chatter? Even with normal senses, the the birds should be more than obvious by now. And seeing how close they were, I shortly said:

"Run." before doing just that. I was still not completely comfortable with my words around strangers when I was out of the princess mask, despite having hung around that crazy GM for a couple of hours. That was probably to be expected, but still... I didn't want it to be this way. Hopefully the kid wouldn't think that I was being a complete moron.

Speaking of... the kid was letting out a loud scream as I tugged him after me like a flying kite. "UWAAAAA!"

I ignored this for the moment, just as I was ignoring my resolution to hide my boosted stats in front of other players; in this situation, I had to consider my priorities. And right now "getting the kid and me out alive" ranked higher than "I don't like associating with strangers and don't want to give anyone any clues that could let them figure out that I have the crown."

I mean, I couldn't just leave the kid there, because I am sure that the maggot-eaten birds would find him just as good of a prey as they did me. So if I left him, that would basically be the same as killing him, since I had been the one to wake the rage of the birds in the first place. And I would _not_ let the death of an innocent (if slightly moronic, judging by his earlier action of starting a conversation with a random stranger) child be one of my first accomplishments in _Second Life_. No, I would protect this kid. Even if he did happen to be an idiot.

After the angel had righted himself and managed to keep at least some of his own weight up by taking the occasional stumbling step and giving a flap of his wings now and then, when there was room in between the trees, he asked: "Um, miss? Why are the birds chasing us?"

Giving myself a mental facepalm, I refrained from answering, since I deemed the question kind of pointless (the fact is that they _are_ chasing us, so what's the point about wondering about _why_ they're doing it?), and needed all of my concentration to try and lose the winged pests. And to keep from running into trees or losing my footing. Besides, if I was silent, maybe he'd take that as a cue and shut his trap, too, so that the birds couldn't localize us so easily.

I was desperately racking my brain for the way back to the town as we continued to barrel through the sun-lit forest. The monsters couldn't follow us in there, so if we managed to reach it, we would be safe.

The brief silence (and my focus) was broken by the (admittedly) sweet voice of the angel kid I was currently dragging along. "My name is Robin! I'm nine, and I'm gonna be an archer! What's your name? And why do you have stripes?" Concluding that since silence hadn't helped, then maybe an answer would, I replied:

"I'm Pandemonium. The stripes are kind of a long story." I could still hear the ear-splitting shrieks behind us, a bit too close for comfort. Swerving to the right, down a rocky, dried riverbed covered in needles, dried leafs and the occasional skull or bones of some sort of rodent or small herbivore, I hoped to gain some more distance between us and our pursuers.

"Oh." He said sounding a bit disappointed, before going back to the positive and highly annoying attitude that I was starting to believe was his default one. What was it with me and meeting happy and talkative people today? "Can you tell me another time? It'd be great, if you could. Also, how are you running so fast? And can I call you Pan? Pandoni- Pandimu- Pamido..." He grew increasingly frustrated. "It's hard to say! So can I call you Pan?"

Stumbling slightly as I stemmed on a loose stone, I nodded, hesitant. I had never really had a nickname before, so to be bestowed with one from this weird kid who didn't seem to know fear – and whom I had just met, to make it all even weirder – felt a bit uncomfortable. "You can call me Pan," I said cautiously out loud.

"Great! So how are you running so fast? And why are you in the forest?" I decided that since I had already started answering his questions, I might as well continue, I replied;

"The first is also a long story, and the second is because I went monster hunting." Hearing the shrieks gaining on us, I added: "It didn't go very well." I omitted the curses I really wanted to throw in there, too, for the sake of his young ears.

"Ah. I got lost as some nice people helped me train. This place is so _big_! But now I'm starting to recognize stuff again. If you take left, you'll reach the village." Being completely lost at the moment, I decided to not question the kid's words and veered left, climbing up the sides of the dried-up riverbed and dragging him along with me.

Was I imagining things, or had he gotten lighter? Quickly deciding that it was pointless to question it right now, I made my way out of the dry waterway, the cursed fowls gaining on me all the while. Reaching the summit of the small ridge, with a quite sharp downward slope laying before me, I saw that the pines were thinning out up ahead. And it had gotten slightly cooler, a pleasant breeze sweeping through branches and needles that were not quite as dry as they had been deeper inside the forest.

Rushing forward, I did my best to keep my feet below me. Running in a downwards slope was an utterly idiotic idea even at the best of times, and it was even worse if it was littered with loose needles, knobbly tree roots and the occasional red or beige stone, but at the moment, I didn't have much choice.

Emerging from the trees without any mishaps, a beautiful landscape of lush and rolling green hills spread out before me against a background of hazy blue mountains capped in white. Shimmering silver creeks were winding along the bottom of the valleys, lined with willows whose branches were gently stirring in the wind. Players – angels, more specifically – and monsters dotted the landscape, most of them involved in battle – at least the players. There were enough of the monsters in the area that some of them were lucky enough to be in a quiet spot, avoiding the slaughter going on elsewhere.

But the most stunning view was the town standing on the tallest hill.

Suspended on wooden pillars, the angels' town soared up towards the sky, greenery and flowers overspilling or climbing along almost every piece of surface available on the wooden structures. It was at least as beautiful as the demons' town, leading me to wonder if the entire continent was designed in a similar manner, and if the designers had had a good laugh when situating this and the demons' town within walking distance of each other.

"There it is!" Robin shouted out. "Isn't it pretty?" I nodded before once again being reminded of our current predicament by the terrible noise in the background. I did not know if the blasted creatures could exit the forest or not, but better to be safe than sorry, so I started running toward the safety of the town, still quite some distance away, at my maximum speed.

Rushing past a few players, thoroughly confounding them, I didn't relax until I had dragged myself and my companion up an oaken ladder leading to the lowest level of the city. Sinking down in the closest out-of-the-way corner, I let out a sigh of relief. This game was certainly different from anything else I had ever experienced. Robin settled down next to me after spending some few brief moments to get his wings out of the way; confirming my earlier suspicion about them being a nuisance when not in use.

"What were those monsters?" He asked. Frowning, I thought back to the system windows so that I could give him a reply.

"_Trickster Talons_." Copying my facial expression, his eyebrows crinkled.

"Oh. But shouldn't they like you then, if you are a demon, and they are demon birds?" I stared at him for a moment, not really understanding what he had just said, before my brain supplied me with a memory from the character creation process. _"Mountain demons have a common nickname amongst players; 'Tricksters'."_

"Apparently not." I replied once I understood his question, my voice laced with irritation. I didn't like the idea of being related to the ugly, maggot-eaten creatures in any way, even if it was just by name. After that, it was silent for a while as we regained our breaths. I tried to ignore my parched throat and empty stomach, but it wasn't working so well. Mumbling curses to myself in my thoughts, I decided to go and find a well or something, so that I could at least drink, even if I didn't have any money for food; because somehow, I doubted that the loot that I had gotten off of the corpse-eater would sell for enough copper pieces to be able to feed me.

I was just about to get up, find some water and be off towards the demon town by skirting the edges of the forest – as far as I was concerned, my self-set task of protecting the kid had ended now, seeing as he was safely back in his starting town – when he grabbed my previously white tunic.

Yeah, previously white. During my flight through the forest, it had gathered sweat, red dirt and a couple of pine needles, sullying its previously pristine state, leaving me to wonder why they gave beginners white clothes.

"Hey Pan?" The nickname, coupled with the fact that he sounded so hesitant and plaintive made me stop and turn towards him, cocking my head to let him know that he had my attention. "I'm level two, so if you aren't too far away, then maybe we could team up?" His eyes once again held that look they had had in the forest, when he had wanted me to teach him the tripping technique, and this time, there weren't any murderous birds who could come to a timely rescue, for better of for worse. Seeing my hesitation – I had planned to play solo, since I'm not really comfortable around other people – he added: "If you don't want to, that's okay, too, but..." Starting to become highly uncomfortable with the situation, I looked away, trying to find some way to escape. "And we could always split up if it doesn't work out?" There was something in his hopeful tone that reminded me of Theron, causing me to sigh and look back at him, scratching my neck. He was wearing the exact same expression my brother usually did when he thought I wasn't looking at him; sad, but trying his best to hide it. My willpower broke as soon as I saw that, and I hesitantly stretched forth my right hand for a handshake, remembering a part of his first introduction that I had never really answered to, fighting a blush all the while.

"I'm at level four, and aiming to be a warrior."

My last hesitations about our partnership, whether it would be permanent or not, fled in the face of the brilliant smile that followed as he took my hand in both of his and dragged me to my feet once he had stood up himself.

"Come on, I've got lots to show you!"

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><p><strong>For those who have read the old version of chapter 3 (and still remember it -_-"); you may notice that the events are a bit different. Pandemonium still meets up with the <strong>**_Trickster Talons_**** and Robin, whom she eventually forms a team with, but the humour of the birds humiliating her as she tries to catch them (nearly falling to her death in the process) and her throwing a massive tantrum, punching innocent trees, is gone. This version is... different, obviously. I quite liked the old version, just because of the humour, but it didn't fit with the "new" Pandemonium, so the scene had to be rewritten. This version of the chapter will fit much better into the storyline and character development, so in the end it is better, I guess, even if it makes me a bit sad to erase the old chapter, a qualm I didn't have in the slightest when it came to the old chapter 2.**

**That might be a part of the reason as to why t****his chapter was annoying me to no end. The other part is because somehow, it doesn't feel like it fits together properly, and I think it is because of the dialogue. It feels awkward, no matter how many times I rewrite it. On the other hand, it is supposed to be a bit awkward, to maybe it is good this way? What do you think? Tell me in a review, and you'll get a hug and cookie ^^**

**That said, I've got some sad news. Unless I get off my ass and write like crazy in the upcoming weeks, the next chapter will be the last before I put this story on hiatus again. Just thought that you'd appreciate the warning...**


	11. Promise?

**Note: The content of this chapter was previously written in chapter 4. This new version is much better, at least according to me.**

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><p><strong>IMPORTANT NOTE TRANSFER FROM THE OLD VERSION: The old chapter 4 was published for my two friends, Vendelareader and bokpricken, on their birthday, and was dedicated to them. Naturally, this transfers to this new version, so the chapters 11 and onwards for a while (I'll say so when we reach the content of the old chapter 5) are dedicated to them. If you have nothing better to do after this, you can check out their profiles (through the author search function or my fav. authors list), read their stories (and drop a review?), andor maybe start up a PM conversation with one or both of them. They are both awesome people and good writers, so I don't think that you would regret it, and you would make them very happy. Yes. Shameless advertising. What one doesn't do for one's friends...**

**That said, I would like to transfer my thanks to the both of them, ThorongilAnime, Meatbun Attack, gaarasgrl19, Serositannia and krad09 for reviewing back in the old version. Thank you so much! If you guys hadn't shown an interest in this story back then, it would definitely never have become what it is today.**

**For reviewing chapter 10 of ****_this_**** version, however, HikariNoTenshi-San, krad09, Vendelareader and AnimeVamp1997 deserve my thanks, a hug, and a couple of cookies each.**

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><p><strong><strong>WARNING: This is the last chapter before I put <strong>**_Beast Queen _****on hold again. I'll put more information in the next "chapter", as I don't want to hinder you from reading this one for any longer than I need to. Also: VIOLENCE. But seeing as this is a T-rated fic, and you've already read chapters 2, 3 and 9, I don't think there should be any problem with what shows up here.****

****Disclaimer: Come to think of it, are fish even capable of owning stuff like legal rights? Does anyone know?****

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><p>Chapter 11:<p>

Promise?

I do not think that seeing a demon being dragged around by her hand by an angel kid was a common sight in the angel town – Indeira, Robin told me that it was called – at least if the reactions of its inhabitants were anything to go by. Everyone was staring. Well, maybe not everyone, but... enough.

I tightened my hold on Robin's hand a little. I did not like this. _Some are even following us! Why are they following us?_ It made me uncomfortable, and the heat in my cheeks refused to die down. Most of all, I just wanted to duck into an alley or shop and hide.

Robin, however, seemed to be oblivious to my discomfort and our followers as he happily chatted on while giving me the grand tour of the lofty town. Apparently, he had spent quite a lot of time in the game already, despite his low level. This was due to the fact that, while he had gotten his _SL_ helmet for his birthday four days ago, he had not yet been allowed to go out to kill monsters by his parents. From what I could understand from Robin's energetic and rapid talk, it seemed as if they were very worried for him and had originally wanted him to play with his older brother, who could look out for him, as he was still a bit on the young side for playing. Yet things had not turned out entirely as expected, as Robin was mistakenly placed in Central by his GM, instead of going to the North, as he was meant to.

When this mistake was discovered, Robin was at first forbidden from playing until his cousin – named Kyle in real life, but called Wrath in _Second Life_ – could reach Indeira and take the place of a babysitter originally meant for the brother. The circumstances had changed, however, when the cousin had fallen sick the next day. Not wanting to wait for him to get better, Robin had nagged his parents constantly until they had given in and let him play on his own for a little while, as long as he promised to keep out of trouble, not fight any monsters and not talk to any strangers.

At this point of the story, I had blinked, confused. Hadn't he joined a hunting party full of strangers, fought some monsters, then gotten lost before bumping into me – yet another stranger – and asking to form a team with me? According to him, this was only the second day after he had been allowed to play, and yet he had already broken all of his promises. Wasn't that a really bad thing?

As we crossed a high bridge between two of the larger towers, Robin's storm of words momentarily died down and was I reminded of something I had thought about earlier by the gnawing pain in my stomach and the constant ache in my throat as I breathed.

"Robin?" My voice was raspy and broken, and went unheard before I cleared my throat and tried again, with a much better result, even if I still sounded hoarse."Robin? What was in your pouch when you started?" He looked up at me from where he was walking on my right side, still keeping a firm grip on that hand. He had refused to let go of it since he had gripped it to haul me up from the ground back in that alley.

"Hmm... Some money, bread and a knife? Oh, and an empty water pouch, but an evil rat bit it and made a hole in it so that I couldn't use it anymore... I bought a new one, though! Then I ate the bread, and I broke the knife when I tried to climb that tower over there." He pointed at the highest tower, which was made of a different and lighter wood than the rest of the town. "Then I found out that there were stairs... So now I'm fighting with a branch instead!" He said, and hefted said "weapon" around; he had removed it from his back earlier to poke at an unidentified slimy substance in an alleyway, before we both decided that it would be better to leave it alone, mostly because it smelled bad. Really, really bad.

But why had he gotten those things, when I hadn't? Quickly realizing that I wouldn't find the answer, I abandoned the question and decided to take up the battle with my scratchy voice again.

"Cou-" My voice died on me, so I tried again. "Could you show me the way to a well? Or a drinking fountain?" He looked back at me and smiled.

"Sure! I'm getting thirsty, too, since I drank all my water earlier." Then his smile suddenly dropped, making me worry about if I had done something wrong for a second, before he said: "Is that why you aren't talking and your voice is sounding so weird? You should have told me earlier!" He sounded upset with me, almost making me want to curl up into myself.

"Sorry..."

"You shouldn't be sorry, I should be sorry! Come on, this way!" He said, and quickly pulled me to the end of the bridge before veering right, down a set of broad and shallow steps. "That forest was really warm, and you were there before me, and you were chased by those weird bird-thingies," he had forgotten the name of the monsters soon after that comment on it, it appeared, because whenever he talked about them after that on our trek through the angel town, he had called them 'weird birds' or bird-thingies' "and then you ran with me, and then we've been walking around, and it's almost the middle of the day, and it's really sunny and I haven't seen you drink! You must be very, very, _very_ thirsty!" He took another right once we reached the bottom of the steps, steering us onto one of the larger streets I had seen so far. "There!" He then said, and pointed to where a drinking fountain in some sort of grey stone was set into an ivy-covered wall by the landing of the steps. Then he let go of my hand for the first time since he started his 'tour', got behind me and started pushing, hands firmly set into the small of my back. "You first!"

I looked over my shoulder at him, conflicted. I was thirsty, sure, but he was, also, and now that we were by the drinking fountain anyway, it really wouldn't hurt me to wait another minute. Then I saw him give me a _look_ and point towards the drinking fountain, brows furrowed, wings and tail ruffled and slightly unfolded and feet planted firmly into the ground.

_See that look, kitten? The brat ain't gonna yield. At least not without a lot of noise. Just drink. It'll give him his water sooner than he would have gotten it if you decide to be stubborn about this._

I sighed slightly, giving in. "Okay." Bending forward, I activated the fountain and took deep, gratifying gulps. I had long since realized that there was nothing that tasted quite as good as water did when you were tired and dehydrated. Except possibly milk, but water came a close second. Stepping back with a contented sigh, I let Robin have his turn as I wiped the water off of my face with the back of my hand and scanned the sunlit street. Angels of all shapes and sizes were milling about, making for a scene I would never have thought to be possible. I had tried to get used to it as I and Robin had moved through the town, but somehow, my eyes just wouldn't stop widening with wonder or shock as soon as we stumbled upon something new.

I was brought out of my thoughts as Robin grabbed my hand again, tugged on it and asked:

"You're better now, right?" I looked down on him and nodded, feeling slightly flustered about the fact that he seemed to be taking care of me, when it really should be the other way around. "Great! Then I'll show you the central square! It's the greatest place in the whole town!" With that said, he tugged me down from the steps and out into the street, taking left. Now that I was thinking about it, most of the traffic seemed to be flowing in that direction. "All the guilds are there, and there is this _biiiig_ fountain which is really, really pretty, and lots of shops, and nice people, and scary people, but more nice than scary people, and the... the... the... umm... I don't remember what it's called, but there's this _reeeally_ big house where you can get quests and-"

I switched my primary focus away from Robin's friendly chatter, even if I still registered what he said with half an ear, as the hairs on the back of my neck rose and I experienced and unpleasant clench of my stomach that had nothing to do with how little I had eaten in the game.

My neck had been acting up for quite a while due to our followers, so I had sifted that sensation back into the back of my mind, but now it was much stronger than before. That coupled with my stomach clenching led me to believe that the danger was much more acute this time.

Not one to ignore my instincts, I ducked just in time for a serrated dagger to pass over my head, just at the right altitude to have gouged my throat out, had I remained where I was.

_What the fuck? _I growled in mind, just as I lashed out with my left elbow and hit my assailant hard in the kidney, hoping to rupture the organ and put her out of commission. She certainly went down, but before I could see if I had done any serious damage, or if I had just shocked her, however, the kid was yanked out of my grip.

_Robin! _A slightly panicked voice in the back of my mind screamed out. Quickly reassessing the situation, and prioritizing the brat before dealing with my grounded opponent, I looked around just in time to intercept another crazed woman, this one with a sword. She came in with a wide horizontal swing from my left, aiming for my head. Seeing as I was already crouched, I knew that it would be hard for me to move if I chose to duck even further, so I sprang back, just out of range of the sharp blade. My opponent was obviously not experienced in wielding a sword, because the large guardian angel had overextended herself with that swing, something I immediately took advantage of. Springing forward once the sword had passed, I circled my right hand around her black feathered forearm and put my left hand against her upper arm. Pulling with my right and pushing with my left, I broke what was left of her balance and sent her stumbling to her knees as I let go of her arm before I forced her beak into the ground with a well-placed roundhouse kick towards the back of her feathered head with my left leg.

She didn't get up, and since my first opponent still lay on the ground without moving a single feather, I had a slight reprieve in which I could look for the brat.

What seemed to have started as that single attacker was quickly getting out of hand, and the kid had already been dragged so far away from me on the street that I could barely see him through the chaotic mass of people. None of them had yet to gather the courage to get close to me after seeing how easily I had taken down the two angels now laying on the ground beside me. Not that it mattered much, because the idiots were still _in my fucking way_.

Some of them seemed to be trying to propose to me, others tried to attack me, and still others were trying to stop the ones in the previous groups. But these were not the ones I was focused on. My concentration was held by what seemed to be the majority of the females in the area, who were playing tug-of-war with the kid being the rope. There were tears in his eyes, and judging from the force his limbs seemed to be pulled on with, I'd say that they were on the verge of dislocating.

The same voice that was to be panicking earlier, when they pulled him away from me, seemed to be on the verge of tears. _Can't they see that they are hurting him?_

I'm not saying that I am the most patient person in the world, but neither am I short-fused. _This_, however, this was too much for whatever patience I had. I growled, and jumped. I may not have any fancy wings like all of these angels around me, at least not yet, but that did not mean that I could not get over them. Landing with my left foot on the shoulder of a kneeling, burly, male angel with ridiculously small wings, I sprang over the crowd, using shoulders and heads as stepping stones to get to the kid. I was studiously avoiding stepping on the bright forms of the angels which only seemed to consist of some kind of energy or light, as I had yet to find out whether it was possible to touch them or not. And I really didn't want to find out by crashing through one of them and getting stuck in the middle of this rabid crowd. From what I had seen so far, the whole lot of them were out of their fucking minds.

Finally reaching the kid, I landed right by him, in the middle of the cluster of crazed females. Not believing that it was possible to reason with the harpies, I kicked the one holding his left arm with my left foot, breaking her right kneecap and sending her crying to the floor. My health and mana bars appeared in the corner of my vision, letting me know that that attack had consumed mana, before I continued on, drawing the dagger hanging from her belt with my left hand. In one fluid motion I twirled around and shot forward, slashing open the throat of the hag who had been pulling on the kid's right arm. She gurgled, and blood spilled out of the jagged gash – the dagger had apparently not been particularly sharp – to run down her throat before her body disintegrated into white light and shot up into the sky.

This seemed to serve as a wake-up call for the rest of the mob, as they backed off, leaving me and the brat some space.

I growled and crouched down, switching the bloodied knife into a reverse grip, ready for whatever they might throw at me, even if my situation now not was much better than it had been in the forest. As a matter of fact, it was worse. Just like this morning, I was severely outnumbered, but unlike then, I was unable to run. They had me surrounded. The only thing I had going for me right now, apart from my inflated stats, was the fact that these players were sentient beings, and could probably be persuaded into thinking that attacking either me or the kid would be a very bad idea.

Even if they had acted as intelligence-bereft fucking morons up until this point. I mean, who the hell with any sense left in their head would gang up on someone like this? For something as ridiculous as getting a virtual girlfriend, knocking someone down a level, or spending some time with a cute kid?

Anyway, it was worth a shot.

"Get the fuck away from us." I snarled in as threatening of a tone as I could manage. "Or I _will_ kill you." I put every ounce of anger and bloodlust I had into that simple sentence, hoping to scare them away. Interestingly enough, I saw my mana bar starting to drop further as the ones in the first row started to quake and scramble away. Straightening out, I swept the kid forth from where he had been standing behind me and pulled him close to my chest with my free right arm, while my left still was held at the ready with the knife on my other side. I then let my eyes roam the crowd, seeing that more and more of them were starting to quake, before I snarled: "What the fuck are you waiting for?! Get the fu**ck AWAY**!" As I talked, my voice had been betting louder and louder, before gaining an inhuman echo and ending in what was practically a roar, which took a good chunk of my mana with it.

At this, the crowd broke, and I took the opportunity to get away, since I had no idea of how long the confusion would last. Dragging the kid along with me, I ducked into the nearest alleyway before sprinting as far away from that street as I could.

Several stairs, bridges, rooftops, streets and alleys later, I came to a stop in a small courtyard, walled in by four flower-shrouded cottages, with a great willow occupying the middle of the open space. Cautiously creeping up to the tree, I put my back against it while cautiously listening for any pursuers. Hearing none, I could focus on the kid again.

The kid that I currently held pressed to my chest with my right arm across his shoulder.

The kid who was currently shaking.

_No, _I heard that worried voice in the back of my head again. _Oh, no. No, Robin!_

Echoing my thoughts, I asked timidly: "Robin?"

Had I scared him? Had I made him hate me? After seeing me killing someone just like that, without a good reason, without trying to talk with them first, there was no way he would want to stay with me, right? I gulped and crouched down, pulling my left hand up to scratch myself behind my ear, before realising that I was still holding the bloodied dagger. Dropping it as if it had burnt me, I instead fiddled with the hem of my shirt, trying to remove the bloodstains from my hand. Even if he might hate me now, even if he would probably run away after this and I would never see him again, I still had to make sure that he was okay, that those women hadn't hurt him.

Even if he had seen me for the monster I really was.

"Robin, are you okay?" It almost came out in a whimper.

I was fully prepared for him to hate me, to attack me, or to run away. And I would have let him hit me. I wouldn't have chased him. I would have deserved it, and he would have been better off without me.

So what he did next came as a complete surprise to me. My whole body froze up as he flung himself at me, hugging me and burying his face into my neck.

He was crying, his small frame shaking.

"I wa- I wa- was so af- afraid. Th- they were – they were try- trying to hur- hurt yo- you. An- and... they can- can't hurt you! They jus- just CAN'T! You're MY P-Pan! They aren't all- allowed to hurt you!"

I could barely even think. _He doesn't hate me? He isn't afraid of me?_

_No kitten, he isn't. He was afraid, worried and angry __for__ you, not __of__ or __at__ you._

_He is crying... for me?_

As I gently wrapped my arms around his small body, being careful as to not hurt his wings, I could feel a resolve forming and hardening inside me. I would protect this boy no matter what; I would do all in my power to make sure he never cried again.

Working around the lump in my throat, I said: "Don't- don't worry, Robin. I won't let them hurt me. Please stop crying. I don't want you to cry. I will never let them hurt me, and I will never, _ever,_ let them hurt you, either. Jus- just please stop crying." I felt the tears burning behind my eyelids, but I wouldn't let them spill. From now on, I would have to be strong.

Robin sniffled. "Re- really? You won't get hurt? Promise?"

My throat clenched. I couldn't give him a promise that I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep. "I promise... I promise that I will protect you, but I can't... I just can't promise that I'll never get hurt. But- but I'll promise you that I will always try my best to avoid getting hurt, is that okay?"

At that, Robin pulled away from the hug, and I felt my heart clench at the idea that I had made him even more upset, but he had stopped crying, and just pulled away enough so that he could look into my eyes. He looked dead serious when he nodded and said:

"Okay. But you'll have to pinky promise." Familiar with the concept from having made a few such promises with Theron – who had explained to me that such promises were very serious and could never, ever be broken – I nodded and pulled away from the young angel. Standing up again, I offered my right hand, pinky outstretched, for the promise. It would feel wrong to seal it with my left, even if that was my dominant hand, when it had blood on it.

"Pinky promise."

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><p><strong>Reviewers are still rewarded with cookies and hugs, even if there won't be a new chapter for a while ^^<strong>


	12. Slime-hunting

**Note: The content of this chapter was previously written in chapter 4. This new version is much better, at least according to me.**

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><p><strong>This is two days late. And slightly short. I have no good excuse, so I'll just keep the AN short and let you read as soon as possible.**

**This chapter is dedicated to Vendelareader and bokpricken ^^**

**My wonderful reviewers AnimeVamp1997, krad09 (x2), Vakarianx3 and bokpricken ****deserve my thanks, a hug, and a couple of cookies each.**

****Disclaimer: I am hereby starting a movement for supporting fish's rights. It is downright scandalous that fish have no legal rights.****

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><p>Chapter 12:<p>

Slime-hunting

I was not quite sure of how I had landed myself in my current situation.

No, to be completely honest, I knew _exactly_ how I had landed myself in the current situation, but that did not decrease my confusion over it. I mean, the manual _had _said that this was the best place to start one's training in as a newbie, a fact that was only supported by the multitude of slightly clumsy angels in the grey-brown-white newbie attire distributed on the field, but still...

Was this what I was supposed to fight? I cocked my head to the right and scratched my neck. The "monsters" looked like jellies; cute, multicoloured jellies.

Who were very good at the staring game. Without blinking or shifting my gaze – I couldn't very well lose a staring game with a twenty centimetres tall electric blue blob, after all – I asked Robin;

"Are these really the 'Man-eating Slimes'?"

"Yupp!"

At his answer, I nodded absent-mindedly. I really should stop being so surprised: the staff of _Second Life_ had quite obviously made it their life's mission to confound and embarrass the players. Or they were just hungry. That slime looked quite tasty.

I was startled from my reverie by Robin, who had probably gotten tired of watching my stare-off with the Man-eating Slime. He jumped at my back in a hug-tackle, causing me to break eye-contact with it.

"-o come on!" Conquering the knee-jerk response of attacking the threat when I realised that it was just the kid, I felt like I had missed something, but as he jumped off and ran a little ways away, I figured that it didn't matter much and squished the blob I had been staring at before following him.

He had already pulled out his trusty branch and started playing whack-a-slime by the time I arrived, and was holding his ground against the group of jellies. Seeing how well it was going for him, I was happy to stand back and let him get the experience he needed to gain in on my level.

Or, well... I was, before one of them had the nerve to bite him with a quite nasty set of teeth that appeared to have shown up from nowhere.

The kid was under _my_ protection, damn it, and no sorry excuse for a mutated dessert had any right to harm him. I could feel a growl building in my throat as I dashed up to the kid and grabbed the offending green blob.

Perhaps sensing a bigger threat, the jelly let the kid go and _sloshed_ around in my hand to turn against me, mouth open and prepared to bite down on my fingers. Then it suddenly seemed to stop for no discernible reason and close its mouth, quivering and looking at me with large eyes.

I promptly crushed it. It had bit the kid, so it deserved no sympathy, no matter what that voice in the back of my head said in a feeble protest.

The threat eliminated, I backed off and observed how the game of whack-a-slime was going. A wry smirk crossed my face as I watched the kid eliminate a yellow blob. And when I say "yellow" I do not mean neon yellow, or sun yellow, or even dandelion yellow. I'm talking a kind of green-yellow that made you feel slightly sick when looking at it.

If the oblivious kid had been any other person, I would have thought that he had smashed that specific blob to death first just so that he wouldn't have to look at it, but since he is himself, I'm going more with the theory that it just happened to be a very moronic jelly who didn't understand that the branch was, indeed, dangerous.

After watching for a while longer, my theory was reinforced as another blob died; this one a startling pink one who seemed to have been trying to eat the leaves on the kid's weapon.

Moronic, indeed.

_Well, since they are that stupid, it should be okay if I got some training too, right? I would still be able to keep an eye on Robin..._

_Yeah, that is a brilliant idea, Kitten. Rely on the stupidity of others to keep the kid safe. Truly brilliant._

Ignoring the bitter thought, I went off a couple of meters to find a slime or two of my own to train with; I wasn't far, so I'd be able to see if he needed me.

It was a red one that caught my eyes first, and I pounced on it, jumping down on it and squashing it in one blow. It burst, and then faded away in a white light. I still felt an irregularity under the thin soles of my boots, though, so I stepped away to check; it seemed like the monster had left a knife for me.

I picked it up and examined it; it was too short to wield practically against these opponents, unbalanced and ungainly, not to mention blunt, but it would have to do. I switched it to a firm reverse grip and set my sights on a silvery-white slime.

Time for some monster-hunting.

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><p>I called a break as the sun had slid down quite a ways from its noonday peak, where it had been when we started. I had long since given up on trying to figure out <em>Second Life's<em> time schedule in comparison to the real world, figuring that it stood somewhere in the manual or Theron's notes, and that I just had not gotten to it yet. What I did know, though, was that the internal time went at the same speed as the external one, even if it was out of phase with it, so I figured that about three or four hours had passed as we trained and that about eight hours had passed since I entered the game, not counting the creation process. I was starting to get _very_ sleepy. I was used to being able to take catnaps now and then when I wasn't on a mission, and considering how little sleep I had gotten the night before, it was only strong mental discipline and the fact that my body was not there to drag me into sleep that held me awake at this point.

Robin was almost annoyingly energetic as he came bouncing over from his own spot a couple of meters away. I quickly shoved that feeling back into the half of my mind where they usually resided, though.

"What is it? Did a poison-slime bite you?" I shook my head to still his worry, needless as it was. With my abnormal physique, the weak poison of the slimes could not affect me. We had discovered early on that all purple Man-eating Slimes had a slightly poisonous bite, after which I had pulled them all away from Robin.

"No, just tired. How about taking a rest; drink a bit and manage our skill points?"

"Sure!" He said, excitedly flapping his wings a bit. "We'll probably be strong enough now that we can go get our classes!" I do not believe that his smile could have gotten any bigger, and I felt the corners of my own mouth tugging upwards in response.

He skipped up ahead to a birch grove nearby where we had taken our two previous breaks. Or maybe "bounded" would be a better word. After I had asked whether he could fly, he said that all Angel Envoys actually had too big and heavy bodies in comparison to their wings to do anything other than glide from high spots during their first levels before they allocated some skill points into strength and worked up the level of their ability Arial Ace a bit. Usually this was accomplished by repeated climbs up the numerous stairs and ladders of Indeira, before launching off of one roof to another before gliding down towards the ground and repeating the process. This is what Robin had been doing while he was "grounded". Before he sneaked away to train, that is. Anyway, it resulted in his skill level being quite a bit higher than others' of equal level. Even so, he still couldn't fly properly due to his still low strength. He could, however, flap his wings a couple of times, gain a bit of height, and glide a bit. From start to finish, he managed to move about four meters from start to finish, resulting in slow bounds across Indeira's lush meadows. I walked at a calm pace behind him.

As we reached the small grove, we took a moment to cool down and drink from our almost-empty water pouches (Robin had bought me one before we left Indeira to train, to my protest) before I asked him;

"So what level are you at now, Robin?" As I settled down on the ground next to him, our backs to the same great birch. He shrugged, though it was mostly the wings that moved and not his shoulders.

"Dunno. I'll check." He then got his sparkling smile back as he called: "System, stats!"

By now, I had realised that I was not imagining the sparkles and slight glow that started up around him as he smiled; it seemed to be a genuine effect in the game. I had no idea of why it was like that; if it was some kind of ability he had accidentally picked up or if it was something else. My thoughts regained their focus as he exclaimed;

"I did it! Pan, I did it! I can get my class! I'm level 12!" and gave me an abrupt and awkward side-hug. I smiled at his triumphant declaration that he had cleared the level 10 limit put on all new players to let them get accustomed to the game before they got to chose their classes and tentatively reached out to pet his head; his hair was just as soft and fluffy as it looked. I made an inner decision to pet it more often as my smile grew larger. He looked up and tugged at my tunic, still smiling excitedly. "Come on, check yours!" Unable to deny him, and admittedly curious, I copied his words from earlier, albeit more silently.

"System, stats." The half-translucent window that I had first seen during the character creation process unfolded.

**Name: Pandemonium | Gender: Female**

**Level: 17 | Specie: Demon (Mountain) | Class: None | Reputation: -300 | Health: 400 | Mana: 530 | Unspent skill points: 48**

**Strength: 23 | Physique: 40 | Agility: 57 | Intelligence: 22 | Willpower: 53 | Wisdom: 33 | Charisma: 10**

**Luck: Lucky | Abilities: Offensive (15) – Neutral (10) – Defensive (5)**

I had not opened my window during our two previous breaks; I had figured that since I was not going to distribute my skill points anyway (I wanted to keep things as fair as possible with my boosted stats; my unspent skill points were just an ace in the hole for when I really needed them), it would be a pointless gesture. Thus I was quite surprised to see that I had pulled away another three levels from Robin compared to when we met. It kind of made sense, though, when one took into account that I had probably gotten experience from that played that I had killed and that the poisonous slimes rewarded more experience.

The loss in reputation rankled, but I was not surprised by it. Unless _Second Life_ had some kind of block or warning against player killing – or "PKing" as I had learnt from Theron's notes - and maiming, the game would have run amok by now. If it wasn't frowned upon, many weaker players would look at player killing as an easy way to gain experience and loot, seeing that they would not have needed to be stronger than the one they killed, as often is the case with monsters. They would just have to be smarter.

_Second Life's_ reputation system held the killers at bay, though, as the residents of _Second Life_ - that is; non-player characters or "NPCs" - would refuse to sell you things or give you any quests if your reputation was low enough and you would be put on the wanted lists, leading to bounty-hunting quests being issued against you and that the NPC guards would recognize you and try to kill or apprehend you on sight. And if that was not a strong enough incentive to be a good little player already, then the fact that your victim would be revived and back for revenge almost immediately after his or her death should do it. _Second Life_ was a decidedly unfriendly environment for player killers.

Realizing that I had gone off on a tangent, I shook off the unnecessary thoughts and let my eyes trail to the bottom of the window. I was taken aback at how many abilities that I had learnt. Even considering that some of them were probably dual-natured, there must be quite a lot of them. Realising that it would take too long to look through them all now, I put it off. For now, I had an over-enthusiastic angel clinging to my arm and waiting for an answer as everyone's windows and notifications were invisible to everyone else unless it was a big notification such as i.e. that a boss was defeated, or that a party had cleared a quest (both prompting congratulatory windows).

Not wanting to reveal that I was five levels above him, as that would make him sad (and I did not _ever_ want to see Robin cry again), I simply smiled at him and said;

"I've also cleared level 10, so let's go get our classes!"

At that, what little exhaustion there had been to be found in Robin suddenly disappeared and he jumped up from the ground as fast as his wings would allow him before taking a hold of my hand to tug me up after him.

"Yes! Come on, Pan! Let's go, let's go!" Keeping my smile, I stood and said;

"Coming."

All the while, I was carefully ignoring the slight sense of foreboding about my class quest that welled up within me and told me that it'd be anything but easy.

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><p><strong>Well, there it is. The first chapter of the new batch. Now, for those who have missed it, the romance poll is over, decided in favour of romance ;)<strong>

**I recommend you all to take a quick look in the BQ section of my profile (it is right at the top, you can't miss it), as I have lots of information there that could be interesting to know but would take too much space in my A/Ns, i.e. info about sequels, polls, etc.**

**As an apology for this chapter being late and somewhat short, the next will be up in a week (that's 17/2, folks), but after that I will update every second week for as long as I am able.**

**Thanks for staying with me during my long hiatus! As usual, virtual cookies and hugs are rewarded to reviewers. I'll also do my best to answer any questions that you may have, and I _love_ constructive criticism (I want to get better, after all).**


	13. To Protect

**Note: The content of this chapter was previously written in chapter 4. This new version is much better, at least according to me.**

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><p><strong>This chapter is dedicated to Vendelareader and bokpricken :D Feel free to go and bother them however much you want.<strong>

**I want to thank FluffTiger and bokpricken for reviewing the last chapter and give them a couple of cookies and hugs each, with a few extra cookies for bokpricken, who pointed something very important out in the last chapter:**

**I had forgotten to write that the required level to get a class in ****_Second Life _****is 10. This is now remidied. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.**

**Maybe I should get myself a beta reader who can catch things like these ^^"**

**Anyway, krad09 and Fanfiction Wanderer also deserve a couple of extra cookies in addition to the standard ones and hug due to "reviewing" via PM and telling me what they thought about the chapter :D Happy fish :D**

**Anyway, I know that I have not answered any of you yet when I release this chapter, but I'll get around to doing so as soon as I can, so no worries :)**

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><p><strong><strong>WARNING: Drama? If that qualifies for a warning...<strong>**

****Disclaimer: I just realized something brilliant: since it is not possible for fish to hold any legal rights, it is impossible for me to own ½ Prince, meaning that I do not need to write this thing any more! :D****

****Without any further ado: here is chapter 13! :D****

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><p>Chapter 13:<p>

To Protect

There were no incidents on the way back to Indeira, but the closer we got to the town, the tenser I could feel myself becoming. We had been safe out in the fields: the Man-eating Slimes, in spite of their rather ominous name, were quite harmless. The so-called "angels" inside the village were another story alltogether.

I tried to comfort myself with the thought that Robin was much stronger now, and thus somewhat capable of taking care of himself... at least compared to before, when he had been practically powerless before the kidnappings he had been forced to endure before he met me. A fact that he had not bothered mentioning to me until we stumbled upon the subject during one of our slime-hunting pauses.

One corner of my mind growled at the thought; _I should find them all and rip them apart limb by limb until they learn that they should leave the kid alone._

I quickly discarded the thought, though. _They probably meant well, though... besides, Robin would probably stop liking me if I did that..._

At that, my more aggressive side went quiet, but not before a saying Theron had briefly mentioned while he was trying to describe Father to me a long, long time ago echoed in my mind. _"The road to hell is paved with good intentions" _It took me several years to start understanding that sentence, especially since I almost never met Father except for official events where I had to step in instead of Rizza, and I still did not understand it completely. Even so, I considered myself to have a good enough grip on it now that I knew it fit this situation perfectly.

I felt my worry growing stronger, but reminded myself of my bolstered stats and unspent skill points. Even if there would probably be some players in the town who could overpower Robin, they wouldn't be able to get through me. Not in a beginner's town. I took a deep breath and repeated the resolution I had made when I gave Robin that pinky-promise; _I will not let anyone harm him. Ever._

With this to bolster my confidence, I lengthened my stride to catch up to the hop-flap-gliding Robin. We were almost upon Indeiras main staircase, placed directly in the middle of the underbelly of the lofty town, leisurely circling up and around a thick pillar until it, supposedly, reached Indeira's central square. As it was, the square was not visible from the bottom, so I had to trust Robin's word and the steady stream of players going both up and down the ivy-decorated staircase.

Robin reached the stairs before me and was left to enthusiastically bounce up and down on his toes, smiling that impossibly wide, glowing and sparkling smile.

"Come on Pan! Hurry! I wanna get my class!" Already having increased my pace I soon arrived and scratched my neck as I stopped beside him.

"We still need to do our class quests before that, you know..." He snatched my hand and started tugging me up the stairs.

"That's why we need to hurry! Otherwise we'll have to wait 'til tomorrow before we can get our classes and go exploring!" Then he suddenly stopped, almost causing me to run into him, but I managed to stop myself in time. He whirled around and almost knocked me down a couple of steps as his wings flared slightly. For some reason, he looked extremely worried, which almost sent me into a sympathetic panic-attack before he revealed what he was worried about. "What if you can't get your quest here?! What if the angel NPCs don't like you?! Then we'd have to go to the demon town..."

I smiled and reached up – he wasn't that much shorter than me to begin with, and now he was standing two steps above me – and ruffled his hair. He ducked a bit and closed an eye, blushing slightly, though whether it was because he was embarrassed or angry (or well, the Robin-version of angry; I doubted that he could get angry-angry) I did not know.

"Why are you smiling? What if they hurt you?!" He stomped his foot and his wings were decidedly more ruffled and fluffy than usual.

"They won't." I tried to stop smiling, as it seemed to upset him, but it did not take long for the smile to come back. "Now let's go." I started up the oaken stairs again, walking around him and then tugging him with me as his small hand was still secure in mine.

"But Pan!" He hop-stepped after me, taking two steps at a time with a couple of helpful flaps from his wings, quickly catching up to me to walk by my side. "Even if they don't hurt you, they still mightn't give you your quest! Some of them are mean! I saw one hit a player!" At that, he took another hop-step and landed a couple of steps above me, facing towards me.

I scratched my neck with my right hand, as my left was currently trapped by Robin's hand, and tilted my head to the left. That would certainly be problematic. The only way back to the demon town, Maasfeld, that I knew of went through the forest we had passed through earlier that day. I was not eager to get reacquainted with the Trickster Talons.

"Well, in that case I'll just have to convince them." It seemed the most obvious solution. _Second Life's _NPCs were supposed to have very advanced artificial intelligences, so surely those in such an important position as class quest givers would be intelligent enough that one could convince them to give a player from another race their quest. Surely situations where players had strayed to different starting towns than their own could not be too uncommon. I ignored the pessimistic voice in the back of my head which was telling me that I should stop worrying because my class quest would surely not be there anyway. Or, well. Maybe it didn't use those exact words, but that was probably what it meant, anyway.

_If I didn't know better, I'd start to believe you are getting smarter, kitten._

I filtered away the thoughts and curses flitting through the back of my head and returned my focus to reality as Robin spoke.

"Are you sure you can convince them?" I nodded.

"Now come on." He broke into a smile as I once again started up the stairs.

"Okay!"

He resumed his hop-stepping up the stairs next to me, and before long we broke up from the shadowed underbelly of Indeira into the sunlit central square. I closed my eyes with a slight hiss before opening them. Robin had also been blinded by the light, but recovered just as fast as I, so we stepped up into the wooden square together.

Robin had not been lying about the foutain. It truly was beautiful, crafted of glass and some kind of silvery metal, almost looking like some kind of strange flower which had blossomed from the wooden ground of the square.

Robin must have noticed my staring, because he smiled one of his glowing smiles and said;

"I told you it was pretty! Now come on, we need to go this way!"

He tugged on my hand and led me to the right, towards a building proclaiming that it was the "ADVENTURER'S HALL" in big, bold letters. This snapped me out of my trance and sent me on alert once more. I did not want to repeat the incident from earlier, and the fact that nothing had happened yet, despite the long, busy staircase put me somewhat on edge. Now that we were out in the open square, we could become completely surrounded.

While I kept an eye out for any sign of crazed players, Robin happily chatted on.

"There is this nice NPC over here who knows where everything is. I talked to him before, and he helped hide me from some ladies that had been following me and told me all sorts of stuff! Did you know that the water in the fountain is there to help us angels fly? We become lighter when we drink it! It only works close to the city, though... Hi Cato!"

He had raised his free left hand to wave at an elderly archangel NPC, who sat on a bench outside the Adventurer's Hall with his six great grey-speckled black wings relaxed behind him. His braided hair and short beard had not taken the wear of time quite as well as his wings, though, and were almost entirely grey, save for one black hair here or there. I could not quite make out what kind of person... or, well, artificial intelligence, he was at first. He seemed uncommonly muscular for one so old as he, even underneath his voluminous cloak and the lines etched into his face showed both kindness and severity. Then he noticed Robin and broke into a glowing smile, leading me to suspect that this was where Robin had picked up the odd ability.

"Robin! It is nice to see you again, fletchling. It was so long since I saw you last that I was starting to believe that you had left the nest without telling me!" He gave a short laugh and opened his arms. Robin took this as an invitation and let go of my hand before leaping into a hug, laughing himself.

"I wouldn't do that Cato! I just found a friend!" He broke away from the hug and darted back to and around me, pushing me forward. "This is Pan! She is really, really nice and has helped me a lot!"

As the old angel's focus shifted to me, his smile fell away to a frown and he shifted on his bench, his wings folding up and tucking away against his back.

"Is that so?" His stare was uncanny, and his body screamed of unreleased tension. I had to consciously reign myself in from growling as I shifted into a discreet combat stance in response to the old geezer's reaction. Even so, the kid seemed... fond... of him, so I figured that I'd have to give him a chance. I cautiously stepped forward and gave a small bow; I wasn't about to shake his hand yet, and I'd doubt that the old bag of dust would have accepted my hand, even if I had offered it to him. I was a demon, a natural enemy of the angels, and had a negative reputation for killing and harming angel players in addition to that. It was perhaps natural for him to be hostile towards me, and in that case, I would have to get used to this kind of treatment until I was out of Indeira and had worked up my reputation into positive numbers again. That in mind, I took a deep breath and did my best to be courteous.

"Greetings. My name is Pandemonium." He did not bow his head in return, but answered, at least.

"Greetings. My name is, as you have heard, Cato. I had heard stories about a demon in the heart of Indeira, and in the company of one of our fletchlings, nonetheless, but I did not believe them until now." He rose from his seat, revealing himself to be a head and a half higher than me, forcing me to look up in order to meet his eyes. "Now tell me what gives you the audacity to stay after killing one of our own, and maiming another?" His wings were ruffled and slightly spread out behind him, seeming to add to his already considerable mass.

The oblivious kid who did not seem to have noticed the tension earlier chose that moment to intervene. He darted out from behind me and planted his feet to the ground between us, facing the geezer with his wings ruffled and spread as wide as he could. Seeing how much this mirrored the other angel's posture, I wondered if he simply mimicked him or if it was some kind of artificial instinct to make himself seem larger and more threatening than he really was. The kid would probably never manage to look even a little bit threatening, though, never to mention match the intimidating old warrior. Yes, that was clearly what he was now that the grandfatherly façade had been discarded. An old warrior; a wolf in sheep's clothing.

The closest the kid could come to that was probably the "cutely defiant" look that he was pulling off right now. I berated myself for not noticing earlier. NPC or not, the old feather duster was clearly a threat, and he'd have to walk over my dead body in order to reach the kid. I had already stretched out my left arm in order to pull him behind me when he exclaimed;

"Don't hurt her!"

The geezer seemed startled and confused. I took this opportunity to pull Robin behind me again, despite his protests. Higher level or no, he was still not a match for my inflated stats. This time I took a more openly aggressive stance and didn't bother to suppress the rumbling that had been building in my chest.

"No Pan! Don't!" I froze.

_Why? Why doesn't Robin want me to protect him?_

_Well, how would I fucking know. The kid's an idiot. I am not letting him face off with the geezer. No matter what he says. He may be a bloody idiot, but he is my bloody idiot and I am not letting him put up some kind of elaborate suicide._

_But still... I may just be making things worse for him. He was happy... they were both happy before Cato saw me. If I hadn't been here, this wouldn't have happened. They would have been friends..._

I was yanked out of my self-doubt by Robin's voice as he pleaded with... Cato?

"Please Cato. Please don't hurt her. You can't hurt her!" Was he...? A cold wave of dread swept over me and I fell out of my combat stance, even if I still kept a wary eye on the archangel. I turned slightly so that I could see Robin. He was. "She's m-my Pan! You can't h-hurt her!" He was crying.

_Oh no. Oh no-no-no-no-NO._

For once, I was not even the least bit divided on what to think. Do, on the other hand...

_He made him cry. That BASTARD made him cry. I'll rip his throat out!_

_No! No, if I do that, Robin will be scared. He'll cry more. Besides, Cato was his friend, wasn't he?_

_But he made. Him. Cry. Would a friend really make the kid cry?_

_But I've also made him cry, haven't I? And maybe this is my fault. If I hadn't been here, this wouldn't have happened! It wouldn't!_

The cold voice of Cato interrupted my thoughts.

"Fletchling, I do not know what spell this _demon_ has put on you, but surely you see that she is dangerous? She _killed_ one of our kin!" In response, Robin stamped his foot into the ground and screamed;

"_I know!_ I-I kn-know that she is dan-n-ger-rous!" By now, Robin's whole body was shaking with his sobs as he hugged his stomach and looked down. I could feel my blood getting colder and colder as it flowed through my veins. I took a step back, away from Robin. I knew it. All this time, he had just stayed with me because he was afraid of me. He'd probably thought that I would kill him if he tried to get away.

_Because that is what I am, isn't it? A killer. The only reason I haven't killed Theron yet is because I was raised to think of him as my master..._

If I hadn't been so shocked that I had filtered away all sounds except Robin's voice, I would probably have missed that he had started speaking again.

"I kno-ow tha-at she i-is dan-dangerou-ous..." He looked up again, giving Cato a defiant, tear-drenched glare. "But sh-she is _mine._ She is m-my Pan, and she won't hurt me!" His volume had slowly risen as he spoke, and now he was screaming again, even louder than before. "SHE DID IT TO PROTECT ME!"

My brain seemed to have ceased functioning. I could only watch as he sank to the ground, tears still flowing down his cheeks, but energy spent. His voice was weak and shrill. "She killed to protect me. She became hurt to protect me. She was hurting, but she still did it!" He was screaming again, but his voice seemed thick and hoarse, so he couldn't muster all that much volume. "She didn't want to kill anyone!" His voice cracked, and he went back to whispering. "She was so broken... but she had still done it... for me." He lifted his head and pleaded with Cato.

"So please don't hurt her? She protected me, so I have to protect her." He slowly got back up on his feet and put himself between us. He was taller than me now, I idly noted. I must have fallen. "I'm not very strong yet, but I won't let you hurt her!" At that last, strangled and broken shout, I was roused from my trance. He wanted to... protect me? But... I wasn't worth protecting. I was just a killer. That is the only thing I truly know how to do.

Theron called me a protector, though. Maybe I was. I could believe Theron when he said that. Because he was also a protector. He never said it, but I knew he was.

But if protecting was my purpose, what was I now? When I could not even protect myself? When the one I was supposed to be protecting had to protect me instead?

In the absolute inner and outer silence that followed I could only observe as water drops darkened the dusty wood beneath me. Rain? But the sky was clear... Before I could contemplate the matter further, a booming laugh shattered the silence, and mutters started up again around us as if the world had been frozen for a moment while the time in the little bubble where the three of us were had ticked on in silence. The laugh had been the cue for time to start moving again, and with it, all the hostile intent had disappeared.

I looked up just in time to see that the friendly grandfather was back in place of the grim warrior. Robin flinched slightly as he reached forward and ruffled his hair.

"There is much courage in you, fletchling. It is a pity that you prefer to walk the path of the hunter. I see a great warrior in you. Now get your demon up on her feet so that we can have a talk. I know that you speak truly, and I desire to help that demon of yours with those foul rumours concerning her as an apology for my actions. She deserved to be praised, not punished, for going to such lengths to protect a youngling."

With that, the whole incident seemed as if it was nothing but water under the bridge for the old warrior. I could not forget it quite as easily, though, and my arms shook as I heaved myself to my feet as Robin approached with that sparkly glowing smile of his.

I tried to smile back, but I suspect that it came out as more of a grimace.

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><p><strong>Now my dear readers... I have a question for you. Is this chapter a week late, or just on time? I consider it to be just on time. That means, however, that I neglected to give you that extra update I had promised you. I'll try to make up for it and publish a chapter next week, ok? Let's hope that I can hold myself to it this time...<strong>

**That said, there is now A NEW POLL on my profile page. It concerns a series of one-shots I'll be publishing as a companion to this story and its sequels. Please vote! All information should be in my profile :)**

**I now hope that this chapter did as much sense to you as it did to me in my head ^^"**

**As usual, reviewers get a mention, a hug and a cyber-cookie of praise and gratefulness. Those that leave a bit of constructive criticism gets several ;)**


	14. First Step

**Note: The content of this chapter was previously written in chapter 4. This new version is much better, at least according to me.**

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><p><strong>This chapter is dedicated to Vendelareader and bokpricken :D Feel free to go and bother them however much you want.<strong>

**I want to thank Guest, Vagabond Soul and KonekoNoRenkinjutsushi for reviewing chapter 13 :) Hugs and cookies for them! :D And, of course, this sneaky mention ;)**

**Also; Guest, your reply will be at the bottom of this chapter ^^**

**And I know that this chapter is terribly, terribly late. This is because at the time of the publishing of the last chapter, I had oh-so-conveniently forgot that last week (and partly this one) was a big-exam-week. Leading me to promise to have this one out much sooner than I was really able. Sorry for that. I didn't want to get your hopes up by posting an A/N chapter, though, so I decided to keep quiet until I had another chapter ready. And here it is!**

**Also, Mondays do not like me, so I'll start trying to update Wednesdays instead. Let's see how that goes, shall we?**

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><p><strong><strong>Disclaimer: Okay, so apparently ffn's guidelines say that all stories must have a disclaimer (maybe not in those exact words, buuuuut...). If they don't, they risk being taken down or something like that. It seems to make no exception to stories written by fish, so apparently I am stuck with these... ;_;<strong>**

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><p>Chapter 14:<p>

First Step

Cato led us away from the square and the crowd that had started to form there. He did not stop walking once we were away, however, but instead continued through empty alleys until we passed through an iron gate into a small garden wedged between the nearby houses. The whole walk had passed in silence, an unusual occurrence with Robin nearby.

The long, silent walk had done me much good, though. I was finally in full control of my body and mind again. As such, I was once again on the alert for potential danger; or treachery, in the case of Cato.

Still, no incidents occurred and soon we were all seated around an old, round stone table underneath a seemingly ancient gnarled oak. I did not trust the sudden about-face that Cato had done, so I had made sure to seat myself and Robin on the opposite side of the quite large table from him. The silence didn't last much longer before Cato asked us for our side of the story.

"Would you please indulge this old man and tell me the story of how two such unlikely companions met?"

Wary, I kept my silence. Robin didn't, however. He just seemed happy that the two of us "got along" now, and reverted to his usual bubbly attitude, telling Cato all about our day, exited gestures and sound effects included. Normally, I would probably have stopped him, but some of the things Cato had said had awakened my curiosity. He was a highly intelligent and interactive NPC who had said that he desires "to help that demon of yours with those foul rumours concerning her as an apology for my actions." It was highly probable that he was capable of neutralising my negative reputation.

Besides, there were also those other things that he had said...

"_The path of the warrior," huh? Sounds to me that he is the class NPC we're looking for, kitten._

_But... if he is, should he really be able to just leave the central square like that?_

It confused me and I resolved myself to ask once Robin was done with his tale.

"So she just nodded and told me to come, and I thought that since it is Pan, she'd never be defeated by anyone," at this, he made a large, exited gesture with his arms and flared his wings, "so I stopped worrying! Then we went up the stairs and found you, and, and... you know what happened then..." He seemed to shrink a bit in his seat at that, and his wings slumped back down against his back.

Cato did not respond immediately, but instead sat silent for a while, observing us. I felt the fine hairs on my neck and arms rising at his frosty appraisal, and shifted a bit so that I'd be able to shield Robin if he tried something.

I seemed to have riled myself up in vain, though, for a second later, the old angel replied with a simple; "I see."

At that, the stern aura that had surrounded him seemed to disappear completely, giving away to the "grandfather".

"The Council seems to have passed their punishment too hastily, this time. I shall relay to them the truth as soon as I am able." I frowned at that, but Robin was quicker than me in asking the question.

"What council?" He seemed truly perplexed, his head cocked to the side and his brown eyes appearing even bigger than usual. At that, I frowned a bit deeper. I had thought that I was unaware of this council due to the fact of me being a demon, but if Robin, a highly inquisitive angel who had had days to sniff around the town and find most of its odd secrets had been unaware of it, it was most likely a hidden feature of the game.

Cato just hummed, retrieved a pipe from his great grey cloak and started stuffing it as he spoke.

"That is right, you would not know of it. I am referring to Indeira's Elder Council, the governing body of Indeira. I, myself, am a part of it. We are the judges of crimes committed on Indeiran soil and in Indeiran sky. We also observe and regulate the amount of beasts around the town by way of the town watch and quests handed out to young adventurers such as yourself." Here, he took a brief break to light his pipe by muttering a few words, causing it to glow softly before the tobacco ignited. Robin leant forward over the table, as if to see better, his eyes growing wide in wonder as Cato took his first puff.

"Wow! How did you _do_ that?" Cato blinked at the interruption before chuckling.

"Oh, just a nifty trick I learnt from an old friend of mine... who is actually also on the Council. He can be a bit conservative and unfriendly at times, but is really quite nice once you get to know him. Why, I remember this one time – before we retired to the Council, mind you – when we were competing for a youngling who could not quite decide whether she wanted to protect her comrades by taking up an honourable weapon and standing in front of them or stand cowering behind them, mouthing pretty words as they took on the beasts for her..." He trailed off before clearing his throat. "Sorry. I have been told that I take too much pride in my trade sometimes. I assure you that there is nothing wrong with choosing the path of magic. But I am getting off track." Puffing his pipe, he continued with his explanation of the council.

"Indeira's Elder Council also handle foreign relations, regularly meeting with Councils from other towns, cities and species to negotiate trade treaties, the handling of criminals and discuss the organization of larger events."

I marvelled at this and made sure to take notice of and remember all that he said. We had apparently stumbled upon the background social infrastructure of _Second Life_. Most would likely never know that this existed, just thinking that everything that the Councils did "happened on its own". This might prove to be a valuable advantage later on.

It also solved the puzzle of him behaving like a class NPC, but being able to leave the town square. I decided to ask, just in case.

"So, before you retired to the Council, you were the one responsible for guiding new adventurers onto the path of the warrior?"

"Well, not just adventures, but yes, that I was. I still do, sometimes, when Kelios desires to have some time with his family. It makes me happy to see all those younglings, so eager for future adventures, that I do not really mind at all." At this, he took a puff on his pipe before Robin burst out;

"Then, can you give Pan her quest? She wants to be a warrior, and she is really, really, really good at fighting!" Cato chuckled.

"That much I have gathered from your tale earlier, fletchling." Then he turned to me. "Is it true, young demon? Do you truly wish to walk down the path of the warrior? It is not an easy path to take. You will have to be the one who tread down new roads first, wading through thorns as you cut them down or blunt them for the sake of your companions." I sat silent for a while, meeting his uncanny gaze and weighing my options.

"Actually... I was hoping to find the one able to lead me down..." Here I hesitated. I hadn't actually named that new class I had wished for... so, theoretically, it could be named anything. I took a guess at the most probable name, though. "The path of the Beast Warrior." At this, Cato seemed to freeze. I ploughed on, though, finishing my request. "Do you know who might be able to do that?" Even if they had made my quest tricky to find, I figured that Cato, being a part of Indeira's Elder Council, should be able to give me clue, if nothing else.

But as Cato grew even more tense, and his gaze on me grew heavy – not quite hostile, but something very similar to it – I understood that "tricky" may not be enough to describe it.

"The Beast Warriors have been extinct for over three centuries... as it is, I do not even understand where you heard of them. Even the legends, tales and rumours have mostly died by now. What remains can barely be called myths... but if you indeed have heard of them, then I understand why you would want that kind of power. What you must understand, though, is that they are gone, and have been so for a very long time. The only one who could possibly remain in this world to pass their teachings on is the companion of the last of the lot; Felios, the Phoenix King. But He has not been seen for decades, and even those who still believe that He even existed in the first place believe Him to have finally succumbed to the sorrow of loosing His Warrior companion, thus passing into the World Beyond." Here he paused, but the heavy atmosphere surrounding the table prevented both me and Robin from saying anything in the silence that ensued as Cato carefully observed me.

"If you truly wish to pursue that ancient mirage, I will not stop you. But even if the Phoenix King is still in this world, and you manage to find Him, you will not be able to convince Him to teach you the secrets and ways of the Beast Warriors as you are now. The mighty Beast Warriors did not come from nothing. Before they became legends, they were but ordinary warriors, trying their best to survive in the then much crueller world. The first amongst their number managed a feat said to be impossible by virtue of his strength, courage, and his most loyal Companion Beast. As such, They were Blessed by God to become a Shield for His people. His name has been forgotten, but He was the first of their Orden. He chose only the strongest Warriors and most righteous Beasts to stand by His side and Shield the people from Evil, which then was running rampant across all the continents. Behind that Shield, Civilization flourished. Soon, the Spearhead of attack could break forth from behind that Shield and drive Evil back."

He paused, sighed, and gently knocked the spent tobacco out of his pipe by tapping it against the edge of the table. He looked at it for a few seconds before sighing and putting it back into the cloak from whence he had withdrawn it.

"That glorious attack was the beginning of the end for the Beast Warriors. Evil driven back into the deepest, darkest corners of the world, they were deprived of their purpose. They became unneeded. Where once they had been greeted by happy shouts and parades, mothers wishing them to bless their young and – if possible – take them into their ranks, they were now met by silence and dark looks. The People no longer saw them as quite worthy of the favours that they had previously happily bestowed upon them. Refusing to quietly fall into disfavour and oblivion, the Beast Warriors cast off their original duty and purpose as Shields, and became a brilliant Sword, beautiful in its desparation. They had forgotten that it was God Himself who had bestowed upon them the Holy task of Shielding the People. As they strayed from their original purpose, they lost His blessing. Where they before had seemed to be nigh-invincible, they now started dying one by one as they set out to fully vanquish all Evil from the world, not satisfied in just pushing it back and Protecting the People."

He fell silent once again, leaning forward over the table and rested his head on his folded hands. Meanwhile, his wings tucked themselves in tighter against his body until they almost seemed to be a part of his cloak.

"Only the original Beast Warrior and His Companion Beast remained true to Their purpose, staying behind to Protect the Heart of Civilization, just as They always had done, even as new generations of Beast Warriors came and went. He shared in the long life of his Partner, that first Beast Warrior, you see. It bought Him nothing but grief, however, as He could only watch as His Orden dwindled in number until, at last, He and His Companion were the only ones left. Lonely, ridiculed, forgotten. Evil took this chance to strike back, with a force greater than any that had been seen for over a century. And They knew that the time had come for Them to serve once more. And as the forces of Civilization were still scrambling to understand what was happening, They stood as a glorious Shield – no, perhaps 'Wall' would be a more accurate description – letting the forces of Evil bash themselves against Them, and die. The First was only one man, however, and even as strong as He was; even while still holding onto God's Blessing, and the strength of His Partner, there was a limit to what He could do. The forces of Evil were shattered beyond recuperation that day but He died for it. His Companion Beast, who had been with Him for over four centuries, burnt the world in His Grief before flying off. To this day, there is still nothing that can grow on those plains that Felios scorched that day, as his fire lingers, dancing across the plains like blossoms."

I sat there, blinking, trying to grasp onto the enormity of what had been said. It almost seemed like _Second Life _had rewritten the entire back story of the game for the sake of this class I had wished for. Was that even possible? As my mind reeled, Robin blurted out;

"So Felios is the companion of the first beast warrior?!"

Cato nodded solemnly.

"That He is. Or was. As I told earlier, it is believed that he has passed to the World Beyond."

"Wow... he must be really, really old!" At that, the old archangel chuckled.

"That he is." Then he turned to me, where I was sitting and trying to puzzle out the situation and its possible repercussions. "Do you understand now? If you truly desire to become a Beast Warrior, you will need to find Felios – assuming He is still alive – and impress onto Him that you truly are worthy. Worthy enough that He can revive His Orden for your sake."

I nodded as decisively as I could, considering that I had understood the likely enormity of this task.

"I understand."

At that, the old NPC started laughing unexpectedly.

"I see that you do. You have great determination shining in your eyes. Very well then. I will help you take the first steps on this path of yours, and wish you luck. As I said, all Beast Warriors started their journeys as ordinary Warriors, so that is where you will have to start. Gather ten Wolf Fangs and then show them to either me or Kelio, and we will give you your Warrior's Certificate and a weapon to start off your journey with." He barely had time to finish his sentence before a System Window appeared before me.

****Council Member Cato is Offering You a Quest!****

****[********View********]****

****[********Decline********]****

Pressing "View", that window closed itself as another opened.

****A Warrior's Rite of Passage****

****To prove that you are fit to take the path of the Warrior, you must take a rite of passage. Challenge the local Wolf Pack and bring back 10 Wolf Fangs as proof of your success. Until then, you cannot be acknowledged as a true Warrior.****

****Requirements:  
><strong>******Challenger's Level Must be 10 or Above  
><strong>******Challenger Cannot Previously Have a Class****

**Type:  
>Material – Wolf Fang x10<strong>

**Rewards:  
>Class – Warrior<br>Weapon  
>Ability<br>Ability  
>Ability<strong>

**Accept?**

****[Yes]****

****[No]****

I pressed "Yes" and, since it felt strange to not respond verbally, I also said;

"I will gather the Wolf Fangs."

At that, another System Window popped up.

**You Have Accepted the Quest**

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><p><strong>That seemed like as good of a place as any to stop ^^" Now we've reached the end of the old chapter 4 (for any of you out there who still remember that :P), apart from a couple of details that I'll sneak in soon enough.<strong>

**I hope I that you liked those (admittedly large) chunks of back story. I know that it's a lot to take in at once, but it will be important!**

**Hmm... I remember thinking at the beginning of the chapter that there was something else that I wanted to tell you...**

**Right! Please check my profile. At the top, I have a section completely dedicated to this story. There are a couple of tidbits there that you may consider to be interesting to know. And there is also A NEW POLL there, and I'd appreciate if you'd all vote on it (all the details are in my profile). It concerns a collection of companion one-shots to this story ^^ As of yet, there's only been 5 persons who have voted...**

**That's it ^^ **From here on out, there is just my reply to "Guest" who reviewed Chapter 13: To Protect :)****

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><p><strong>Guest's review:<strong>

_**Well, well, well, looks like the voice is back, not a bad chapter, liked the interaction between the characters, we don't get to see much interaction between the different species in the original series, excluding the battle royale and I don't really count that one, so this was kind of refreshing, I would recommend showing Tigris interacting with more different species in her journey and the reactions they have to her, and we get a hint about how the relationship between Theron and Tigris formed, and how it could have developed. So not bad at all.**_

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><p><strong>My reply:<strong>

**Hello Guest! :D I'm really happy for your review ^^ *hugs and gives cookies***

**I am especially happy that you noticed "the voice" :D It's really important! I've tried to put in as much foreshadowing as I can about it, but you are the only one who have told me that they took special notice of it... I think ^^"**

**And thank you for taking my embellishments to canon so positively! There are all kinds of things in canon that I think were neglected and/or illogical, so Beast Queen partly came into being because of my desire to "correct" that. So you can safely look forward to more inter-species interaction! :D I find it interesting to think about how the different species and sub-species would interact with one another, and it makes me happy that someone else does, too ^^**

**Also: good work on finding that hint! Theron hasn't shown up yet, other than in mention, but he is a really interesting character that I am looking forward to writing and seeing the reactions to... especially once I reveal what exists beyond Tigris' view of him ;)**

**Thank you very much for the constructive criticism! :D All reviews make me happy, but when someone takes the time to tell me what they liked/disliked about the chapter, it gives me an opportunity to become a better author, which makes me very grateful ^^**


	15. Of Feathers and Eggs

**Note: Ok, I lied about being through with the content of the old chapter 4. This chapter is actually technically a part of the old chapter 4, as it previously was a sentence in that chapter. Yeah, I wrote an entire chapter based on a single sentence... I do not really understand how I did it, either -_-" Anyway, this new version is much better, at least according to me.**

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><p><strong>Gasp! What is this?! An update?! On time?! The world must be ending...<strong>

**Drama aside, I want to thank Krad09, Vendelareader and Serendipital for reviewing chapter 14, as well as all those who have voted on the poll :) Hugs and cookies for them! :D I'll get around to answering my reviewers as soon as possible, if I haven't done it yet.**

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><p><strong><strong><span>Disclaimer:<span>****

****Hmm... I haven't done a proper one of these in ages...  
><strong>****…  
><strong>**How are they supposed to look, now again?  
><strong>**Hm...  
><strong>**Curious.  
><strong>**I can't remember.  
><strong>**Oh, well. Enjoy the chapter!**

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><p>Chapter 15:<p>

Of Feathers and Eggs

After I had accepted my quest, we parted ways with Cato. He had to talk to the Council about the circumstances of my criminal actions and get them to remove my negative reputation and we still needed to find the NPC handing out the Archer quests. Curious about whether the reputation regulation was at least half-automated, if not entirely, I opened my stat window as soon as we were out of sight from Cato.

"System, stats."

****Name: Pandemonium | Gender: Female****

****Level: 17 | Species: Demon (Mountain) | Class: None | Reputation: -300 | Health: 400 | Mana: 530 | Unspent skill points: 48****

****Strength: 23 | Physique: 40 | Agility: 57 | Intelligence: 22 | Willpower: 53 | Wisdom: 33 | Charisma: 10****

****Luck: Lucky | Abilities: Offensive (16) – Neutral (16) – Defensive (10)****

Seeing as my reputation remained exactly as how it had been earlier, I sighed and made to close the window, resigning myself to the wait. Just before I could press the X, though, another window opened itself with a loud** "******BEEP******."**

****Stat Window Outdated****

****Display Updated Window?****

****[Yes]****

****[No]****

Pressing "Yes", both windows closed themselves before a new one unfolded itself.

****Name: Pandemonium | Gender: Female****

****Level: 17 | Species: Demon (Mountain) | Class: None | Reputation: 100 | Health: 400 | Mana: 530 | Unspent skill points: 48****

****Strength: 23 | Physique: 40 | Agility: 57 | Intelligence: 22 | Willpower: 53 | Wisdom: 33 | Charisma: 10****

****Luck: Lucky | Abilities: Offensive (16) – Neutral (16) – Defensive (10)****

Startled, I paused briefly, causing Robin, who had been walking ahead of me, to stop and look back.

"What is it, Pan?"

Swiftly dismissing the window with an inward grimace to how awkward it was to reach up and across my body to reach the X in the upper right corner with my dominant left hand, I replied;

"Nothing," and lengthened my strides to reach his side. "Let's get back to the square. We need to find your quest." He turned on that glowing smile of his again and started towards the square, skipping slightly.

"Okay!"

I followed close to his side as he started humming. The reputation lift had been unexpected, as I had only hoped to have my negative reputation lessened or – in a best-case scenario – neutralized, but I welcomed it, figuring that it was because I had managed to build a friendly rapport with Cato, a member of the Indeiran Elder Council.

I would have to do something about the windows, though... maybe there was an option that flipped them for the benefit of left-handed users?

Filing away that thought for later investigation, I returned my mind fully to the present as we were about to return to the town square.

"Do you know what the Archer NPC looks like?" Robin paused in his humming and happily proclaimed;

"Nope! But she's supposed to be in the Adventurer's Hall, so she can't be that hard to find, right? Come on! We're almost there!"

I had my doubts; I did not know much about the Adventurer's Halls that were supposed to be in every major town and city other than the short introduction of them in the official manual, as I had not reached quite that far in Theron's notes yet, but from what I had seen earlier, the building appeared to be big. Very big. But I kept silent, not wanting to ruin Robin's enthusiasm. It was... nice, seeing him happy. A thought struck me. _Is this why Theron always seems so happy when I smile? _Before I had time to contemplate that, though, I was forced to rush forward as fast as this artificial world would allow me to yank Robin back from his almost-collision with a couple of massive beastmen who were just exiting the Adventurer's Hall.

Scanning them for threats, I was surprised to see what must be their names suddenly popping up above their heads. It did not end there, however, as an information panel dropped down from where their names were floating.

****Name: Ursillax  
>Type: Adventurer<br>Gender: Male  
>Level: ?<br>Species: Beastman (Bear, ?)  
>Class: Warrior (?)<strong>**

****Name: Komotius  
>Type: Adventurer<br>Gender: Male  
>Level: 19<br>Species: Beastman (Lizard, ?)  
>Class: Thief (?)<strong>**

I frowned, wondering what had changed to cause that to happen, as it had not done so before. I briefly shifted my focus down to Robin, to see the same thing happening there.

****Name: Robin  
>Type: Adventurer<br>Gender: Male  
>Level: 12<br>Species: Angel (Messenger)  
><strong>******Class: None****

I would need to read through my skills as soon as possible. It would not do to have surprises jumping at me like this. That said, though, this was likely due to the "inborn" ability of Mountain Demons that Mira had told me about; _Scouting_. The description fit, at least. "Scouting _lets the user detect presences earlier, and in its more powerful stages, gives you quite a lot of information about your opponents. It also helps the user to track down both players and NPCs." _Yes, it certainly seemed to fit it with the current situation.

Looking back at the beastmen, I saw that they had not taken much offence at almost being overrun by an energetic angel child. Or, well; the bear did not seem to mind, at least, and discreetly puffed his annoyed reptilian companion onwards with a slight nod towards me. Nodding back, I made sure that they had moved to a reasonably safe distance before taking Robin's hand and weaving my way through the surprisingly dense and diverse crowd and into the Adventurer's Hall.

Inside, the angels were still in majority, but now one could also see some of the other species which had been absent from the rest of the town. It was... strange, being in such a crowd. And nerve-wrecking, especially with Robin as a companion. If I had not held his hand, he would most likely already have disappeared into the crowd in less than half a minute. As it was, he was pulling me all over the place, looking at this stall, then that, then somehow managing to get some free candied apples for both of us, just to dart away and play with a double-headed axe that was _way too sharp and heavy for him_ before handing it back to its highly confused owner. After that, it was off to climb some tree with the excuse that it would allow him to see further and maybe spot the Archer NPC... problem was that it was not a tree, but rather a visiting dryad. Luckily, she was female and as such seemed to have a soft spot for my young companion. This led to her quickly accepting Robin's apology and giving him a hug and one of her leaves, at which he shone up and promptly stowed it safely away in his breast pocket.

After that incident, though, I accepted the fact that we were not getting anywhere with our current method and resolutely pulled Robin with me to the closest information board. It took some time to get through the gathering around it, but we managed at last. The board was big, easily seven meters across and three meters high. And it was completely covered in paper. Not one centimetre of the board itself could be seen. At my side, Robin hesitantly tugged at my sleeve and asked;

"Maybe we should just ask someone?" I frowned. I was... unwilling... to approach a stranger about something as trivial as this, especially considering how extreme some reactions to Robin had been. It was the reason as to why we had not yet started asking people; I already considered it to be a minor miracle that nothing serious had happened since we entered the Adventurer's Hall, so there was no need to tempt fate. At the pace we were going, however, we would never be able to find the Archery NPC in the crowded and labyrinthine pathways in the Adventurer's Hall. I sighed. It would be good if we were able to obtain Robin's class quest, hatch the egg with my Thunderbird in it and buy some new equipment before we had to log out for the day... night? As such, I relented.

"You are right. Can you help me find an angel carrying a bow?"

"Sure!"

He was smiling again as we carefully moved away from the over crowded information board. Once we were out from the dense crowd, he tugged me away.

"There! Over there! I see one! Come on!"

Running my eyes over the crowd in front of us, I swiftly found the angel Robin was heading for. The triple pair of beige wings on the figure's back quickly gave them - her, I corrected myself as I saw the decidedly feminine name hanging above her head - away as an Arch Angel. Focusing harder, the by now familiar information window unfolded itself from beneath the name.

****Name: Cresselia  
>Type: Adventurer<br>Gender: Female  
>Level: 21<br>Species: Angel (Arch)  
><strong>******Class: Archer (?)****

Judging her to be safe enough, I made no move to stop Robin as he continued on through the crowd with me in tow. Once we were but a few steps away, he called out to her.

"Excuse me! Miss! Miss Arch Angel!" Now side by side with her, he did one of his small hop-flap steps to bring himself up slightly in front of her, forcing me to jog a couple of steps to not be left behind. "Hi! I'm Robin! What's your name?" The woman seemed highly confused at suddenly having a hyper child almost directly in her face, and stopped. We came to a halt with her.

"Umm... Cresselia?"

"That is a very pretty name! Are you an archer?"

"Thank you?" She seemed to be even more confused now, and it took her a couple of moments to register his second question. "And, yeah, I'm an archer. Why do you...?" Before Robin could go off on a tangent, I stepped in.

"Excuse us, but could you kindly point us towards the NPC which hands out the class quests for Archers?"

"Oh, yeah! Could you, please? I wanna be an archer!" His glowing smile was back again.

Cresselia still seemed to be confused, but not as much as before now that she knew what we wanted.

"Sure. You actually need to turn back around the way you came and look for the pet shop. Umm... Mena-something Indeira, I think it's called? She usually stands just outside. If she isn't there, you should look around the butcher's place out the back of the Adventurer's Hall. Just head out the main entrance and follow the building until you find it. She might have more places she frequents, but those are the one's that I've seen her at." Robins smile did the seemingly impossible and grew even brighter. I held back a laugh as a stray thought struck me.

_Ya know, if he keeps on using that ability, he'll soon be able to blind monsters with it._

"Thanks lady!"

I barely had time to give her a thankful nod before we were off again, Robin dragging me away through the crowd. He seemed to be aiming for the pet shop, which we had already made our way past a number of times during our search, ironically enough. I hoped that the NPC would be there. It would certainly make things easier, since we still needed to go there afterwards to get my egg hatched.

Our luck seemed to hold, as there was a small gathering of angels outside the pet shop. To confirm it, I activated my _Scouting _ability.

_Let's see... Adventurer, Adventurer... ah! Citizen. That must be the category for NPCs... _Focusing on the players, I looked at their classes. _None. None. None. Non- no, wait!_ The last window I had looked at, belonging to a tall male with the signature skeletal wings of a Fallen Angel, suddenly folded itself away before a new one appeared.

**Name: Mest**  
>Type: Adventurer<br>Gender: Male  
>Level: 11<br>Species: Angel (Fallen)  
><strong>******Class: Archer (?)****

I smiled. _Found you._

"Pan? D'ya think that's her?" I nodded.

"Mm. That's her."

His entire face lit up in a glowing smile, and he ran over the last bit, forcing me to follow, before skidding to a stop at the end of what could now be recognized as a line. I almost bumped into him due to the momentum we had managed to build up, but stopped myself just in time.

The line proceeded fairly fast, and while Robin was bouncing in place the whole time, he was remarkably calm and well mannered once we got to talk with the NPC, so the process went by swiftly and we were soon making way for the next one in line, quest in hand. Apparently, new Archers would have to bring down ten Striped Hawks and bring their tail-feathers back to prove their aptitude.

I was immediately glad that I was not an archer. I realized that I had developed a strong dislike for bird-type mobs after the vulture-like Trickster Talons, and did not much like the idea of having to face something similar. I got a sinking feeling in my stomach when I realised that I would have to help Robin with his quest anyway, even if it was not my own.

_Not to mention that that pet is a pretty little birdie, kitten._

...I had the distinct feeling that my more ironic and sarcastic side was laughing. If it hadn't been for Robin being curious about seeing my pet, thus dragging me into the pet shop – or "Menagerie Indeira" as the sign proclaimed – I would probably have put off hatching my Thunderbird until another day. As it was, I seemed to have little choice in the matter. I did not even get a chance to gather myself and get used to the idea, as the shop was temporarily empty, giving me the clerk all to myself.

Restraining myself from gulping nervously, I summoned my inventory with a murmur and materialized the egg from within. This being the first time I had done so, I was surprised by the size of it. I knew that the Thunderbird would grow to be big, but I had somehow expected its egg to be smaller than it was. Holding it gingerly in both my arms, I estimate it to be roughly 35 centimetres tall and about 25 centimetres across at its widest point. And it was heavier than expected, too. Four or five kilos maybe?

Placing the black and blue mottled grey thing on the counter while doing my best to ignore my apprehension, I said;

"I'd like to hatch this, please," to the clerk. He nodded.

"That will be two silvers, please, ma'am." As he finished, a window unfolded itself between us.

****Hatch Egg?****

****Cost: 2 Silver****

****[Yes]****

****[No]****

Still uncomfortable with not giving a verbal response, I pressed "Yes" while answering.

"Of course."

"Good. You will need to give some of your blood to the egg, so that the pet will imprint to you and know that it is safe to hatch."

Nodding, I drew one of my knifes and made a shallow slit in my palm before letting the blood drip down on the egg.

The results were immediate, and Robin was jumping from excitement beside me. The egg rocked strongly once... twice... thrice, cracks appearing, spreading and deepening more and more all the while. I worried about it falling off the counter and lifted my arms slightly, ready to catch it, should it fall. It rocked again, and a couple of small pieces fell off. Then there was a flash and a crackle, and the egg almost seemed to explode outwards, the young Thunderbird within letting out a cry I immediately categorized as "highly annoyed".

Before my vision had completely returned from the flash, I heard the signature annoying** "******BEEP******" **of a system message.

****Egg Successfully Hatched!****

****Please Give Your Pet a Name:****

****[...]****

Looking at the small, purple-black bird which had just managed to get up on its white feet after its undignified landing on its back, I remembered a story Theron had told me some years ago. It had been during his "Japan" period. Shaking my head slightly and holding back a smile at the memory, I swiftly entered the name into the given box, after which the window flickered, displaying new content and announcing:

****Naming Successful!****

****May You And Your Pet Have Many Great Adventures Together!****

Dismissing the obstructive window, I picked up the small ball of fluff. I could already see white bumps along his head and spine where I assumed his spikes would grow in later. I smiled hesitantly and said;

"Welcome to the team, Raiden."

He cocked his head to the side – his fluff swaying a bit – looked at me with big, electric blue eyes... and promptly shocked me.

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><p><strong><strong>And Raiden enters the stage! He did not hatch at this point in the old version, but I could do it now, so I figured; why not? I'll have so much fun with this little (or... soon not so little) tsundere birdie ^w^ Poor, poor Pan. You do not yet know what your authoress has in store for you... Moahahahaha!<strong>**

****Evil plots aside, I think that I'll actually add Raiden to the options available in the poll. I think that it would be interesting to write from his POV :3****

****If you haven't voted yet, do so! I think I will close it by chapter 17... Details can be found in my profile! ^^****

****And please review! Every little word counts! Even just a small "nice chappie :)" makes me happy :D You get a cookie and hug for it? (Constructive reviewers get two :3)****


	16. Back to Reality

**Note: Some of the content of this chapter was previously written in chapter 5, (which was also titled "Back to Reality", making this one of two chapters – the other being the first chapter "A Crown for the Demon" – to have kept its title). This new version is much better, at least according to me. That does not, however, mean that I am not grateful to those who reviewed the old version!**

**krad09, Vendelareader, Prailrose, dartya, Meatbun Attack, bokpricken, Serositannia, Crashing Planes and chicaalterego, thank you so very much for supporting me back then.**

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><p><strong>I want to thank Vendelareader, Vagabond Soul, krad09, KonekoNoRenkinjutsushi, CleverBast,<strong>**Meatbun Attack and Greatazuredragon (who reviewed 3 times! :D) for reviewing :) Hugs, cookies and sneaky mention for them! :D**

**Also, Tigris goes through a major personality shift in this chapter compared to the last one. It is on purpose. She is ****_not_**** acting out of character. In fact, she has acted this way before, as you may remember. I have also actually mentioned this before... still, anyone who can figure out what is behind it gets an extra cookie! :3**

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><p><strong><strong>WARNING: Annoying author being purposefully vague?<strong>**

****Disclaimer: Please stand by for a proper disclaimer. I am currently researching how they are done...****

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><p>Chapter 16:<p>

Back to Reality

I flexed my hands to get rid of the strange phantom sensation of electricity surging through my body and carefully removed the S_econd Life_ console from my head. Even with the pain setting down – or maybe _up,_ considering that the default setting was at 30% – to 70%, it was not exactly a pleasant sensation to be hit by repeated electrical shocks; for only being at level 1, Raiden certainly had a good grasp of his inherent lightning.

I set about ignoring the curses rolling around in the back of my head (_that fucking maggot-ridden feather duster deserves every wretched second he's bloody well stuck inside that inventory, if you ask me, but of course you won't, because you're __Kitten__, and you don't do that, you ju-_) and tried not to think about that it seemed to be harder than usual as I carefully turned the device around in my hands, inspecting it. It was almost an exact replica of the one I wore around my neck in _Second Life_... if anything, the one in _Second Life_ seemed more real, strangely enough. I still had a problem with accepting the fact that there was a whole other world just _there_; so close, so very, very close. I even found myself _missing_ it, despite the fact that it was _not real_ and that I had _just _left it.

I missed Robin.

I don't think that I would have minded exchanging the lush, carefully crafted Indeira for my plain room if Robin had still been there with that glowing smile of his. Or Theron. I wanted to tell Theron all that had happened in Second Life; from my encounter with Mira to the point where Robin and I had decided that it was best to log off and wait with the equipment-shopping and quest-finishing until tomorrow night, as we both needed some real sleep.

I also wanted to thank him. This was the best present he ever given me, discounting his companionship.

He would not be back for days yet, however. I would have to be patient... and keep up appearances, I realized as I saw what should have been my evening meal waiting for me in the food shaft. Luckily, meals were usually not retrieved until right before the next meal was sent down, so they would not know that I had missed it.

I rose from my bed and retrieved it, making quick work of the cold food before setting it back into the shaft and crawling down into my bed for a couple of hours of real sleep before the morning came. I was grateful for the fact that while the mind was active in _Second Life_, the body still got real sleep; playing was like having a long, detailed, controlled dream. Otherwise, it would be hard to balance playing with my duties to my family, training, visits to Vincent and sleeping, especially considering that my body had a greater need of sleep than a regular human. My mind had no such compunctions, however, and could easily make do with just a couple of hours of rest each night... or day, whenever I had the opportunity to sleep in my often irregular schedule.

I slowed my breathing and heartbeats, willing myself to fall asleep.

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><p>I woke to the familiar <em>ping<em> of my food coming down for breakfast and stretched out.

_Fuck, my body is stiff. I don't think that I've ever been so still for so long. If this is what happens, I think that I'll stick to napping. This sluggishness seems to be a good way of getting myself killed._

_Well, at least the game was nice!_

I snorted softly to myself. Indeed it was. Made this drab place seem all the more stifling, though... oh, well, at least the idiot knight would be back in two day's time. That is something to look forward to at least.

I rolled up to my feet as a light, bubbly feeling built up somewhere in the back of my mind and walked over to the tray to claim this morning's rations. How I could be starving when I already ate not all that many hours ago perplexed me, honestly, but I could think about that after my stomach stopped its incessant growling.

_Maybe it's because I upset my eating schedule by eating dinner so late...?_

_Damn it, Kitten, I said after eating. It't too bloody early for thinking. Foooood._

I immediately threw myself over my morning rations and all but tore them apart, not leaving a single drop or crumb. Feeling much better, I put away the tray into the shaft and stretched again, enjoying how my muscles tensed and pulled and how life seemed to return to my joints. I still felt a bit off, but that could be solved by a good workout... and warm shower. Yes, a warm shower sounded very nice indeed.

Quickly slipping into my training gear, I made my way over to an empty archway located in the corner of the room furthest away from the entrance, I tugged at my wrist supports to make then lie right and not cut into my palms. Just as I was about to put away that bloody annoying long hair into a ponytail, however, a high-pitched _Rrrrrrriiiinng!_ resounded throughout the room.

I blinked.

__Now what is the witch doing up this bloody early? It's not even 6 o'clock yet! Hell, it's barely even past 5!__

__Maybe she had trouble sleeping?__

__Yeeeeeah... ____no____. In that case, why the fuck would she call on me?__

__Intruder?__

__No, Kitten, in that case the alarm, not the summoning, would have sounded.__

...

Throughout my internal debate, I had rapidly crossed the room and entered the bathroom, shedding my training gear as I went. Well inside, I went into a flurry of activity to get ready for the meeting as soon as possible. Retrieving today's set of clothing from the bathroom shaft, I flung them on as fast as I could and then proceeded to mask my markings and eyes. Inserting the lenses, I dragged the brush through my hair a couple of times before deeming it to be neat _enough_, at least, and left the bathroom, heading for the outer door while smoothing and pulling at the clothes to make them lie right and conceal my bandages and the pair of knives that I had stashed away on myself; sometimes, I was set to a task directly after my summoning, and if this was one of those times, it did not hurt to be prepared. I disliked not being able to prepare more, in fact, but since the summoning bell had already been rung, with no preparatory stand-by bell, I was short on time.

_And mother dislikes having to wait._

_DON'T call her mother. Witch, Kitten, Witch. She doesn't deserve to be called mother by you._

_But she is my mother. Lilith is my mother. She is!_

Growling under my breath as the door opened, I flung the protesting voice into the back of my mind and kept it there, ignoring the wave of darkness washing over my field of sight as I did so. I could not bloody well afford being distracted. This would be a silent clash of wills, and it went without saying that she would win, as always, but I would not handicap myself and act as some kind of snivelling, ass-kissing idiot. I still had my honour.

Besides, who knew what the witch would do if she sensed any weakness.

* * *

><p>The silence was almost suffocating as I knelt before the woman's heavy mahogany desk. I did not really know for how long we had been there, still as statues, locked in silence. She was looking down at me, and I was stubbornly staring down at the carpet beneath me.<p>

All I knew was that my legs had started to fall asleep.

Mentally, I raged at her and commanded her to hurry it up, since she had pulled me away from my morning training for this, but outwardly, I was silent and still. Truthfully, the tension in the room was slowly but surely fraying on my mind, and it became increasingly hard to ignore the part of me that was having a not-so-silent freak-out session in the back of my head, flinging around what-ifs and worries, the majority of them centred around _Second Life_ and the idiot knight, with some stray strands worrying about if the witch was capable of mind-reading.

_Mind-reading? Seriously, Kitten, that is just stupid. If the witch really was capable of mind-reading, don't you think that we would have noticed it earlier?_

I was saved from any further idiotic theories being concocted by my poor, confused brain when she finally spoke.

"Rise."

I did so, bracing myself against and ignoring a brief wave of dizziness after having been still for so long and then the pins and needles starting up in my legs. I was still careful about keeping my head eyes turned down, though.

Never challenge a greater predator.

Never show weakness.

A thin line to balance on. I had had much practice, though, and could manage quite well by now.

That said, however, it was hard to refrain from flinching and looking up at her in disbelief as she uttered her next command, gesturing to one of the padded wooden chairs on my side of the desk.

"Sit."

Not daring to hesitate in following her command, I swiftly made my way over and seated myself, all the while feeling her piercing and cold blue eyes on me. My mind was whirling with the possible reasons and consequences for this. These seats were reserved for her _guests_, almost as ornate as the almost-throne she was residing in, even if these guest seats surely were more uncomfortable.

_So why the fuck is she letting me sit in one of them?!_

"My daughter," she started, carefully and with every syllable seemingly measured out on a sensitive scale before letting them take sound, and as she paused, it took almost all of my willpower to stay still, stay impassive, stay _in control_ against the flood of feelings rushing forth from the deepest reaches of my mind, seemingly dead-set on drowning me, "has done something very foolish."

I grasped on to the end of that sentence like a lifeline and braced myself against the feelings, pushing them back, back, back.

"Something very foolish, and very brilliant."

I repeated the mantra _not me, not me, not me_ over and over again, ignoring the crushing sorrow that came with it.

"In the end, I judged it to be a good course of action, and decided to support her in her endeavour."

I kept up my mantra as I pushed the feelings back into the back of my mind and put them under lock and key, where they would be still and silent, at least for a while.

"This, however, leads to my current predicament."

I. Could. Not. Afford. Weakness.

I just about _hammered_ those thoughts into my head as the witch's thin, bejewelled hand withdrew something from a drawer to her right and put it on the desk, sliding it over to me. An envelope.

"You are to read this. Here. Under my supervision. You are not allowed to convey the information within to anyone under any circumstances unless it is necessary to do so to keep your cover under one of your substituting missions. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, my lady."

"Good. Now read."

Repeating the required affirmation out of habit, I reached out for the envelope and opened it, pulling out a relatively thick stack of papers. Running my eyes over the first page of what seemed to be an unusually thick compendia of mission information, I was honestly a bit disappointed. I had expected the thing that had seemingly caused this sudden shift in the witch's behaviour to be a little less ordinary. But no, it was the usual "CLASSIFIED", the code-name of the mission, etc. Sure, "Niflheim" - the name of a frozen hell or something similar in Norse mythology - was one of the strangest mission code-names I had seen so far, but that in and of itself was not enough to explain this strange turn of events.

It was not until I turned the page that I had to start practising a great deal of self-control to keep my body language in check. This was almost too much of a coincidence. Dazedly, mechanically, I started reading, slowly working my way through page after page. The information was censored; narrowed down to nothing but what was strictly necessary for me to carry out my duty.

Still, the witch would probably never even have allowed me to suspect that this information existed if it was not for the princess' slightly... uncharacteristic act. Still, I could see why the witch would approve. It was unexpectedly well thought out.

The sun slowly wandered across the sky as we sat there, causing the seemingly endless ocean surrounding this floating metropolis known as Delta to shimmer and shift outside the window; it was quite still today, the great ocean winds too lazy to whip the waves up into froth. The sun's rays warmed us as we sat there; me reading, and she watching. There was no sound in the room except for our breathing and heartbeats, and the occasional turn of a page.

It was approaching noon as I finally finished the last page, put the compendia back inside the envelope and returned it to her. She took it silently and returned it to its proper place in her desk.

"You will receive updates as necessary. Now be gone."

I rose, bowed low and made my way towards the door and bowed again before I exited the room. Part of me was numb, compared to its earlier torrent of feelings which had ripped through me like a tidal wave. That part had somehow expected this; expected that nothing good can last, at least not for me. Another part was screaming.

_We have to stop her- them! We have to stop them! We can't just let those two do whatever they fucking well want to!_

It quickly faded away into the back of my mind, however, and the numbness settled itself over me like a blanket. Familiar. Safe.

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><p><strong><strong>Is there anyone who can guess what that meeting was about? There's an extra cookie in it for you if you guess correctly ;)<strong>**

****Foreshadowing, I love thee. Now I have laid the foundation for things to come (and not just in the obvious stuff, either), and will start setting things in motion :3 It will be interesting to see how you react to the roller-coaster up ahead! ...or maybe it is more of a free fall? Oh, well. Time will tell.****

****Aaaand... drum roll please!****

*****drum roll*****

****We have officially reached the end of the old version of ******_**Beast Queen**_******! :D From here on out, there will only be new content and plot, never before seen on ffn, so there's something to look forward to! :D****

****That said, I'm still looking for more voters for my poll. I was planning take it down and announce the results by chapter 17 (the next chapter), but so far, I only have 6 voters... ;_; and taking it down when I do not even have 10 voters feels a bit strange... so please vote!****

****Reviewers get hugged and at least one cookie each as usual, so please let me hear what you thought!****

****...I should also let you know that my word processor has decided to be a royal pain in the ass lately, so I am doing almost all of my spellchecking manually -_-" So if you spot any spelling errors/typos, please do not hesitate to tell me! I'll correct them as soon as I can :)****


	17. Wrath

**I want to thank Greatazuredragon, krad09, Vagabond Soul and Meatbun Attack for reviewing chapter 16 :D Hugs, cookies and sneaky mention for them! :D**

**You know, I actually planned on staying in the real world for much longer than this: setting up the surroundings, maybe introduce some new characters... you know; some world-building stuff. But then Tigris went and broke down on me. So that'll have to wait until a later date, and you'll get to see Second Life again ;)**

**...that said, she is ridiculously hard to write in this state. You have no idea how many times I went over this chapter and all but rewrote it until I was satisfied -_-" As it is, the beginning is quite slow, and the chapter is quite short, but we get to meet a new character, so please bear with me?**

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><p><strong><strong>WARNING: Language. Wrath has a hard time with keeping his speech civilized, you see. Add Tigris' more... <strong>**_volatile_****... side to that, and things start snowballing.****

****Disclaimer: Surprisingly, proper disclaimers are extremely hard to find; apparently I am not the only one finding them somewhat tedious. That said, though, I am working on it! You'll get a proper one for the next chapter. Promise!****

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><p>Chapter 17:<p>

Wrath

It did not take long to find my way back to my room, and nothing untoward or unexpected happened on the way there. I was already on my way to the bathroom as the door smoothly shut itself behind me. Lilith had not said anything about it, but I knew that I was free for the day unless a crisis came up. If she had had a task for me, then she would have told me so while she was giving me the information briefing on _Niflheim. _She avoided seeing me as much as she could.

I was about to enter the bathroom to change into my training gear (a free day meant that I would able to train while going all out and stretch my limits without having to worry about being weak and tired afterwards) when my nose caught hold of the smell of food wafting from the shaft. It seemed like my midday rations had arrived while I was out. Putting off my training until a bit later, I made my way over and ate by the shaft, standing.

Once I had emptied the tray of everything edible, I continued on my way towards the bathroom. Well inside, I quickly discarded my clothes, putting my training gear back on. Adjusting my wrist supports, I made my way over to the training hall. It would be pure stupidity to waste a training opportunity such as this. I always had to be as fit as I possibly could be; mine and the Granes' (especially Rizza's) lives were dependant on it.

Entering the hall, I turned off the lights. It had been a while since I had had a good opportunity for darkness training. Running through my loosening exercises, I immersed myself in the dark and quiet, dismissing my sight as my other senses took hold and compensated for the lack.

Breathing out, I finished the last exercise and stood up before crouching lightly, muscles coiling. Taking a deep breath, I pushed off, sprinting into the darkness.

* * *

><p>I startled and dashed to cover, falling into a crouch behind it and then silenced my heavy breaths as I tried to identify the sudden noise that had broken through the cloak of silence surrounding me. The tension slowly started to bleed out of me as I identified it as the food bell and rose, beads of sweat trickling further down my form at the sudden movement. Taking a couple of deep breaths to bring my breathing back under control, I started to make my way back to the entrance of my training hall, navigating on memory, smell, and the feel of wind currents against my skin. As I walked, I could feel my body heat radiating off me and my heartbeat returning to normal.<p>

It would be best to take a shower and change into some dry clothes prior to eating so that I would not be dangerously chilled. It would not do to catch a sickness due to something so small as training.

Reaching the entrance, I carefully turned the light back on at its lowest setting. Despite that, it still blinded me and I decided to keep my eyes closed for the moment. Ignoring my weak and aching limbs, I made my way back to the bathroom.

I quickly decided that it had been far too long since my last serious training session if I had forgotten how hard it was to remove my tight-fitting, sweat-soaked training gear from my body after such an occation.

Once I had finally wrestled my way out of the clothes, gotten a nice warm shower, stretched and eaten, I flopped back on my bed and relaxed. Every muscle in my body was throbbing in concert with my heart, excepting the muscles in my right arm, courtesy of me barely using my injured limb during the training to give it time to heal properly; expanding bullets are nasty business. That the muscles in the arm did not cause me pain every time I so much as twitched did not mean that it did not hurt, however. The pain lancing up from my forearm was much worse than all the muscle ache, bruises and scratches in the rest of my body combined, even when counting the shallow, healing gash carved into my side from that substituting mission a couple of days ago.

Despite the pain, though, I could feel my sleepiness start to overwhelm me. Not very odd, considering that I had omitted my nap today. Even if I had slept for extremely long the night before, my body really appreciated the intermittent breaks that my naps provided. I was just about to empty my head and fall asleep – my body really needed the rest after a training session like that so that it could start to recuperate, after all – when dim, worried feeling started emanating from the back of my mind.

I immediately pushed myself up, ignoring my aching body, alert for danger. Why would I feel worried? This place was just about as safe as any place possibly _could _be. The feeling of worry was highly illogical. Frowning, I searched my mind for the source of the feeling. Finding it, I blinked. _Right. The child will be waiting for me._

I retrieved the gaming console from my bedside, put it on and laid back down. Twisting the center of the activation bead, a familiar darkness surrounded me and pulled me under.

* * *

><p>I barely had time to open my eyes and stand up from my prone spawning position before I was greeted by way of an overexcited angel child ploughing into me and knocking me down onto the ground again. I winced as my longest pair of horns hit the ground before the rest of my head did.<p>

"Pan! I missed you so much! And you're late! I waited for _ages_, and I almost thought you had forgotten me, but you're Pan, so you wouldn't do something like that, so I waited a bit more, and then Kyle came, and he is being a _meanie._" I blinked. He had barely seemed to draw breath at all while he said that, making me wonder about just how large of a lung capacity could be hidden in such a diminutive body.

"Hello Robin." Then I reviewed the information he had just dumped on me and carefully sat up, pulling him with me until I sat with my back against Indeira's ornate Central Fountain with him in my lap. Kyle. Kyle had done something bad to this child which I had resolved to protect.

Kyle.

I had heard that name before.

Filtering through my memories, I quickly found the relevant match. Kyle, known as Wrath in-game, Robin's cousin who was supposed to come and watch over him in _Second Life_ so that nothing would happen to him. Now the question remained; what had he done to upset the child, and why?

"What did Kyle do?"

"He says I can't travel with you! And that is just _mean_, because I _want _to travel with you, because you're my Pan, and you're _awesome_, but Kyle doesn't believe me and is being a meanie, so I ran away from him." Letting out a small breath, I allowed myself to relax. Kyle was not a threat; he was simply trying to keep his small cousin away from strangers, which was perfectly reasonable, really.

"Robin, he is n-"

"HA! I found you, you annoying little midget!"

Suddenly, a giant figure towered over the both of us and snatched Robin away from me by way of fisting its hand in his new dark green hoodie and lifting him straight up. Growling, I shot to my feet.

"Now, don't you be trying that again, bra-OUFF!"

I caught Robin as he fell from the big brute's grip due to me landing a solid kick in his solar plexus, watching so that I did not accidentally hurt his wings. Birds' bones were hollow to make them lighter, but that also made them fragile. I did not know whether the same held true for angel wings, but caution had never hurt anyone. Carefully setting him down, I herded him back behind me and fell into a defensive stance as Kyle – no; Wrath, here in _Second Life_ – wheezed and tried to regain his breath.

"What the _fuck_, woman? What the hell did you do that for?!"

This human was... loud. And offensive. I focused on the name floating about his head.

****Name: Wrath  
>Type: Adventurer<br>Gender: Male  
>Level: 20<br>Specie: Human (?)  
>Class: Warrior (?)<strong>**

Having retrieved the basic information, I replied;

"You were harming Robin."

"Huh?" The indignant rage seemed to melt off him, replaced with confusion. "What're you talkin' about?" I frowned slightly, wondering if I my statement had been unclear in any way. Deciding that it had not been, I reached the conclusion that there was no need to repeat myself. Wrath seemed to grow increasingly uncomfortable.

"Hey, lady, just let me take the kid and we'll be out of your hair. I know he can be a nuisance."

At this, Robin stepped out from behind my back and grimaced at Wrath.

"Am not! Pan likes me! Right Pan?" I barely had time to nod before Wrath exploded on us.

"So you're the fucker that has been brainwashing my cute little cousin!" I blinked.

_...what?_

Just like that, the floodgates which had been holding back my emotions burst open.

_Who the bloody hell does this fucker think he is?! The ass barges in out of fucking nowhere, manhandles the kid and suddenly think that he is in the right? Like hell he is!_

A deep growl rolled in my chest, ripping out past my teeth.

_One wrong move; a single damn step out of line, and I swear that I will rip him apart. Piece. By. Bloody. Piece._

"I. Have. Not." I realized that my words were barely recognizable as human speech by now, but I couldn't really bring myself to care.

"Why the fuck should I believe you, bitch?" Wrath made an impressive try at replication my tone, considering his human vocal cords. I could see the air around him start to warp like it does above hot asphalt in the summer. My growl rose in response.

Suddenly the kid jumped in between us.

"Okay, okay, _enough!_" He put one hand on each of our stomachs and pushed to widen the distance between us a bit. I let my growl die down and blinked.

_When did we get so close...?_

_I haven't got the faintest idea, kitten._

The kid was looking between the two of us. "Ky- Wrath. Pan. _No fighting_." I immediately felt indignant.

"He/She started it!" I glared at the bastard and felt a growl building back up, echoed by a face-twisting snarl from the brute.

_Where the hell does he get that idea from?! He was clearly the one who began all of this!_

My eyes snapped back to the kid as I felt something collide not-too-lightly with my head. I blinked as I noticed that the kid had withdrawn his old branch from his inventory and was pointing it at us.

"I said no fighting! I like both of you, and I don't want you to be fighting each other!"

Oh fuck. It was the puppy eyes. That was just not fair. Damn, I felt bad now. Scratching my neck, I said lowly;

"Sorry, Robin..." It was echoed by a;

"Okay, kiddo, I'll stop..." from my left.

"Good!" The glowing smile was back. "Now, introduce yourselves!"

I reluctantly turned and met the eyes of the large human beside me. He stretched out his hand.

"Wrath."

I did not really want to shake his hand, but with Robin standing beside us, looking at me expectantly, I did not see any way to avoid it. I took it.

"Pandemonium."

We were immediately locked in a silent hand-war, both of us trying our best to crush each others' hand. Luckily, the kid did not seem to notice. Instead, he smiled again.

"Great! We're all friends now! I've already added K-Wrath to our team, so let's go! We have quests to finish!"

_Wait, what?! The bastard is on our team now? Just like that? And what does he mean, friends? I will not befriend that brute!_

_But Robin wants us to get along..._

_...still not gonna do it._

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><p><strong>And that wraps up today's chapter. Hope you enjoyed it! :D My word processor is still hating me, though, so please tell me if you spot any spelling errors or typos :)<strong>

**My next chapter will be a couple of days late, due to me having two big exams that week. So I'll have to focus on them instead of BQ... That said, I'll try to have chapter 18 up Sunday the 18/5 (which is kinda fitting, anyway XD). Can't give you any guarantees, though... :(**

**I now have 9 voters for my poll! :D YAAAAY! :DDD A big, big thank you to all who voted and consider yourselves having a chocolate chip cybercookie each (since I can't see who voted, I can't PM them, like I usually do...) :D I still want a couple of more votes before I take it down, though, so the poll will stay up until the next chapter :) Then I'll start working on the one-shots! :D**

**That's it for the day. Thanks for reading, and I'd be really, really, _really_ happy if you dropped a review on your way out :)**

**P.S. To all my readers who celebrate it: Happy Walpurgis Night! I almost thought that I wouldn't be able to get this chapter up before the festivities... but I managed!**


	18. Tempting Fate

**I want to thank krad09, Greatazuredragon, Vagabond Soul and Serendipital for reviewing chapter 17 :) Hugs, cookies and sneaky mention for them! :D**

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><p><strong><strong>WARNING: Wrath is still around, and not leaving any time soon, so what do you think? Oh, and "bad humour" may also qualify for a warning... I feel that I'm not much good at writing humour. Still, doesn't keep me from trying ;)<strong>**

****Disclaimer:****

****Okay, here goes:****

****I do in no way, shape or form own ½ Prince; Yu Wo (and whatever publishing house she is working with) does. I write this story for fun and am not making any type of monetary gain off of it.****

****Do you think that that is proper enough?****

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><p>Chapter 18:<p>

Tempting Fate

I looked up into the treetops, wary. I admit to being somewhat paranoid of bird-type monsters (mobs, whatever they are called) after my run-in with the maggot-ridden vulture-lizards and my own violent excuse of a pet. But these Striped Hawks seemed quite peaceful, not really minding our presence. My _Scouting_ ability also helped bring my paranoia down to manageable levels after I had locked onto a couple of them and realized that none of the feather dusters seemed to exceed level 12. While they may have been quite a challenge for those who took their class quests as soon as they were able to at level 10, they were not a big obstacle for us, who had waited a bit... even if we hadn't exactly done it consciously.

Still, reassured or not, I was _not _happy about leaving the kid here with the brute. I will admit that the plan was a good one; to save time, we would go about our class quests simultaneously and Wrath, the extra member, would stay with Robin, who was the weaker one of us, in case something happened. Theoretically, it was indeed a good plan. Practically, however...

"Will you quit bouncing around, midget?!"

"No!"

"I swear I'll tie a fucking rope to you if you don't come down _now._"

"But if I don't come down, you can't tie the rope to me, right? So I'll stay up here."

"Come. Down. _Now_."

"No!"

"I swear I'll climb up there and break your flimsy little wings!"

"Waah! Pan! Wrath's being mean!"

I did not need the prompt. The fucker had threatened the kid, and I could not accept that. My dagger was already at his throat.

"Would you care to repeat that?"

It seemed that the bastard actually had _some_ brain in there, somewhere, even if he did not seem used to using it, because he gulped, causing my dagger to nick his skin, and said;

"Umm... Robin? Would you please come down from the branches so that you won't hurt yourself...?"

"No. You're being a meanie-pants."

The brute almost growled at that, before I hitched my knife closer, opening up the wound on his throat further. Needless to say, he restrained himself. His survival instinct was keen, if nothing else.

"Please come down?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"_Please_, Robin?"

"No."

Feeling like the whole thing was going nowhere, I opened my inventory and pulled out a cookie; the kid liked them, and I had had money over after buying our new equipment, so I had figured that it wouldn't do any harm to keep a few on hand. Still not removing the dagger from the brute's throat – I did _not_ trust him – I held the cookie up so that Robin would be able to see it from where he was sitting halfway up an ancient-looking oak.

"Cookie?"

At my simple query, the kid immediately straightened up from his sulking slouch, looked at us and uncrossed his arms, lighting up in that glowing smile of his.

"Cookie!"

He wasted no time in jumping off the branch he had been sitting on, launching himself towards the ground. I could feel the brute stiffen, but was not particularly worried myself. The kid might be oblivious and prone to landing himself in strange and dangerous situations, but he could handle his wings quite well by now. A simple gliding landing should not give him any difficulty.

It appears as if I spoke too soon, however, as the kid was entirely too focused on the cookie to ensure a proper landing. Instead, he collided into us. Hard. Luckily, I managed to keep from cutting the kid with my dagger in the collision, but the same could not be said of the brute's neck.

_Well, it's not like it's a big loss or anything. Will keep the bastard's big mouth shut for a bit, at least._

_That... is a bit mean, isn't it...?_

_...nah._

I dried off my weapon and stuck it back into its sheath as I made my way over to the the kid and sat down next to him, withdrawing two more cookies from my inventory and giving one to him, munching on the other myself as I watched the brute struggle with fetching a healing potion from his inventory to stop the rapid draining of his HP.

_Pan: 3, Brute: 1. Ha, he'll never be able to catch up._

We were just done with the first pack of cookies when the brute recovered... though Robin hadn't seemed to notice him being wounded it the first place. How one could be so singularly focused on cookies that one did not notice that one's cousin was in a bleeding heap on the ground, I did not understand, but the kid's brain did seem to work in strange ways, so it was not all that surprising, really.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!"

_Farewell, quiet. I shall miss you._

_It's good that he didn't die, though, right?_

_Well, the loss in reputation would have been annoying, even if it would've been nice not to have to see the brute's ugly mug._

_Isn't that being a bit mean...?_

_Nah. Don't like him. Don't like the way he talks to the kid._

_But-_

_He deserves it._

I was brought out of my internal debate by the brute's whiny;

"Oowww..."

I could not help the grin that emerged as I saw the brute sitting on the ground and nursing his head while the kid stood over him, his trusty branch once again in his hand.

"Behave." I snickered, amused by the fact that the big, scary human had been brought to heel by the diminutive angel.

"Quit laughing at me, bitch!" This just prompted another whack to the head, which in turn led to me laughing even more... which resulted in me joining the ranks of the bonked. Quite frankly, I could have evaded, but it would most likely have made Robin sad, and seeing as it did not hurt overly much anyway, there was really no harm in letting him.

I ignored the whisper in the back of my head (_You are so whipped_) and focused on Robin.

"Stop it! Ky-Wrath, you," this was accompanied by menacing pointing of the branch-weapon "need to stop being such a meanie and saying such mean things, and you," cue the branch swivelling over to me "Pan, you need to stop being so angry. We're friends now, so we're supposed to be nice to each other!" As if to put weight into his statement, Robin stamped his foot into the ground, and seeing how upset he was over this, I immediately felt bad. We had been behaving... quite badly... since we had met, and it must have been very hard on Robin.

"Sorry Robin..." He gave me a nod and a smile at that, and I knew that I had been forgiven. Sometimes, I wondered if he was too nice for his own good.

"Wrath?"

"Okay, kiddo, I'll try."

"Great!" The glowing grin was back. "Now let's get these quests done! We'll see you in a while, Pan!"

"Are you sure that we shouldn't just do them together?" I asked, still a bit leery of leaving Robin alone with Wrath. Even if he had never actually shown an inkling of realizing any of his threats towards Robin – as opposed to his threats to me – I did not like him. It did not matter that he was not realizing the threats; the point is that they should never be uttered in the first place. Not to mention that I had this sinking feeling in my gut that something terrible would happen if I left the two of them alone.

"Mm! We'll be fine; we're strong!"

I sighed, but decided that it was not worth risking getting Robin upset by arguing over it, so I gave in. Besides, "I have this bad feeling" is not precisely a solid argument. And what is the worst that could happen, anyway? They would be able to handle it if a boss came around.

"See you in a while, then." I said and ruffled Robin's hair before setting off deeper into the forest, were the wolves were supposed to have their lair, doing my best to ignore the uncanny feeling.

"Good luck!" Robin called happily from behind me, and I turned a bit to give him a nod before continuing on my way.

"She'll need it."

"Wrath!"

"Ow! Okay, okay, I get it! Now, do you want those feathers or not?"

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><p>Despite their pack mentality and decent teamwork, the wolves had been quite easy to take out; they were beginner-level monsters, after all, and if I had done my calculations correctly, my boosted stats put me on equal footing with players on level 25 or so, disregarding my combat skills. That is if they had followed the normal route and put most of their skill points into two primary categories, with a third minor one, of course. At that reminder, I opened my stat window with a quiet murmur as I started to make my way back to the others.<p>

****Name: Pandemonium | Gender: Female****

****Level: 18 | Specie: Demon (Mountain) | Class: None | Reputation: 100 | Health: 400 | Mana: 530 | Unspent skill points: 51****

****Strength: 23 | Physique: 40 | Agility: 57 | Intelligence: 22 | Willpower: 53 | Wisdom: 33 | Charisma: 10****

****Luck: Lucky | Abilities: Offensive (20) – Neutral (16) – Defensive (13)****

I blinked. I had not expected to gain another level so soon, seeing as I was already quite a bit above the levelling curve for this area. That meant that I was getting closer to the point where I would have to start investing three stat points per level to keep my strength fairly equal to those of the same level as I. After some brief contemplation, I decided to wait with that until I reached level 27. That was about when my agility stat would start to equal that of those who had prioritized it.

That decision out of the way, I resolved to take a look at my abilities now that I had some time to do so (the wolves had had their lair quite a way away from the hawks' nests). They were starting to get quite numerous, after all, and it would be good to know what they did. Before I could open the abilities window, however, someone shouted in my ear.

**"**Hurry your ass over here NOW!"**** Okay, scratch that. Not just "someone". It was the brute.

_How...?_

I barely had time to finish that thought before a system window appeared and I felt an urge to facepalm.

****Connection to Player Wrath Established****

**End Connection?**

**[Yes]**

Private Messaging. Of course. I set off at a sprint while moving the window up and to the side so that it would not interfere overly much with my field of vision. Having felt the urgency of his rather rude request, I asked;

"**What happened?"**

"**Fuck if I know! We were just finishing up with the mobs when the boss appeared. We took care of it easily enough, but when its HP hit zero, it somehow resurrected on the spot and gained 10 levels!"**

I had the distinct impression that if that bad feeling that I had been carrying around since I left the two of them had had a voice, it would either have been laughing at me, or singing: "I told you so!" repeatedly and at the top of its voice. This was not good at all. As a matter of fact, it was really, _really_ bad. Wrath was not done with his report yet, though.

"**We can't get away eith- fuck, Robin! Gh! ...I'm fine, don't worry. Just keep the fuck away the next time it screeches! I'm _fine, _I said! Focus! It's coming back around!"**

Running full tilt, I gritted my teeth and decided to take the risk of distracting Wrath from his battle to gain more information.

"**Why can't you leave?"**

"**There's some sort of barrier! I don't even know if you can get in or not, but we definitely can't get out!"**

_Note to self: Never, ever leave the two of them alone again. You hear me Kitten? Never._

_And it would probably be a good idea to listen to the bad feeling next time..._

_Gee, ya really think so, Kitten? Why, whatever gave you that idea?_

Shoving the sarcasm back into the back of my mind, I replied:

"**I'm on my way!"**

"**You better fucking be."**

At that rather curt dismissal, a "_beep"_ resounded in my ears and I could see my communication window flickering out of existence at the corner of my eye as a new one opened up in front of me.

**Connection to Player Wrath Terminated**

**Reconnect?**

**[Yes]**

**[No]**

Hastily pressing "no", I barely gave the window any time to disappear before I commanded;

"System, map! Show team location!"

Confirming my heading with the map, I adjusted slightly to the right before running full tilt towards my teammates.

To refrain from worrying overly much about my teammates, I recalled what knowledge I had on bosses. They generally had 3-5 more levels than their ordinary counterparts, some kind of special skill(s), monstrously large amounts of HP, greater stats than their level indicated and tended to have more complicated AIs than ordinary monsters. That meant that the first boss that had appeared before Robin and Wrath would have been somewhere between levels 15 and 17; dangerous, but not overly so, considering that they were levels 12 or 13 and 20, respectively. Wrath would have protected Robin, so it would not have been _too _difficult for them. This second boss, however... spawned when the HP of the first boss died, and 10 levels stronger. That was dangerous, _very_ dangerous. It meant that _somehow_, the two of them had had the bad luck of running into a chief boss. That a boss would appear when you killed an ordinary monster was already fairly unlikely; that a chief boss appeared when you killed a boss was improbable to the _extreme_.

Deciding that it was probably best not to dwell on at the sheer improbability of the situation, I deduced that the boss they were facing now would be somewhere between levels 25 and 27. That wasn't just dangerous for the two of them to take on. It was borderline suicidal.

It was a immense relief when I heard the sound of fighting just ahead after that thought.

As I came closer, I did not see any type of barrier, but that did not mean that it wasn't there. It was most likely just invisible or something.

Spotting the enormous, bright orange and green striped hawk hovering by the treetops, I decided to take my chances with the penetrability of the barrier. It was bad enough to face a chief boss. The fact that it was a _flying _mob just made it worse. Much, much worse. So we needed to bring it down. Fast. I quickly jumped up into a tree in front of me before climbing higher and jumping to the next tree, repeating the process until I was jumping around between the very tops of the trees, sending them swaying beneath me. As I got closer, I finally got in range for my _Scouting_ ability.

****Name: Sky King  
>Type: Creature<br>Gender: Male  
>Level: ?<br>Specie: Hawk  
>Ability: Screech<strong>**

Judging myself to be close enough, I launched myself from my current treetop and onto the lower back of the bird, pulling out my twin daggers mid-leap and plunging them into the back of the creature as I landed to keep from falling off.

I was immediately met by violent bucking and an ear-piercing screech that almost burst my eardrums and actually reduced a couple of unfortunate tree trunks into splinters, giving me an explanation as to why _Scouting _had warned me about it and why this patch of forest looked like a war zone.

Feeling that the grip my daggers had into the flesh of the overgrown bird was slipping, I carefully judged its movements and yanked them out just as a powerful jerk threw me forward over its neck.

Twisting around in the air, I barely managed to snag my daggers into its flesh again before I was thrown off. My gamble had paid off, though, as I was now latched on to it just by its left wing joint.

Letting go of my left dagger, I grabbed a hold of its neon-bright orange feathers instead and reached up so snatch a hold of my weapon with my mouth instead. It would not do to lose it.

Feeling more secure now that I had a better way to hold on to the boss, I ripped my right dagger loose, doing as much damage as I could. I was awarded by another screech, and from the sudden pain and quiet in my right ear, I realized that it actually _had _burst my eardrum this time. Ignoring the wound, I sheathed the dagger and crawled even closer to the wing joint, something which may sound much easier than it actually was. It was hard enough to just hold on to the giant monster when it was bucking, tumbling, rolling and making loops. To actually try to _move_ during those conditions – letting go of one of the two holds that prevented you from plunging to your death for even a second while at the same time suffering from a severe loss of balance due to a messed up ear – was not just hard, it was _gruelling_.

Satisfied with my position, I took the dagger from my mouth and started to rip into the joint with all my power, carving deeper as fast as I could.

The monster sensed the danger and started to try to throw me off even harder; something which I had quite frankly not believed to be possible before it happened. More screeching busted my left ear too, and with every new screech the pain got worse and I could see my HP slowly draining out of the corner of my eye.

I could feel my grip on its feathers slip.

I gritted my teeth, hoping for just a bit more time. If we would not ground this thing, we were doomed. Game or not, I did _not_ want to die.

One last swipe, one last buck, and I could feel my grip tearing loose just as the wing went limp.

I did not have time to celebrate this small victory, however, as I felt myself plunge towards the ground with the monster's giant bright body following right after, blocking out the sun.

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><p><strong><strong>I think I have created one of the most dysfunctional functional teams in the history of SL... -_-" I mean, I always knew they would be bad, but when they were trying to kill and maim each other before the first page was out, I knew I was in trouble. Let's just hope that I manage to keep this together, shall we?<strong>**

**And I don't really know why, but for every time Robin shows up, it just grows harder and harder to not put emoticons after he says or does something. I find my fingers itching to put ":DDD"s in there... and that is just _weird._**

**My characters running away with the story aside, I'll now go back to my regular updating schedule. Which means that the next chapter will show up on Wednesday the 28th of May, and then continue so show up every second week on Wednesdays :)**

**And I still only have 9 voters on my poll... D: I thought that the side-story would garner more interest than that... I mean, I had 20 voters on the romance poll. I would have figured that the side stories could garner at least half as much interest, since this is your chance to get to know the characters better... but maybe not. I'll keep the poll up for one more chapter, then I'll be taking it down and getting to work on actually writing the one-shots/drabbles :)**

**Please vote and/or review, please! It makes me happy :)**


	19. Breaking

**EDITED AS OF 31/5. I rewrote a passage quite a bit due to the fact that I was unsatisfied with it and my readers seeming to agree with me. Nothing too important to the storyline, as the same thing happens, but I have changed the scenery :)**

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><p><strong>I want to thank Greatazuredragon, Vagabond Soul and krad09 for reviewing chapter 18 :) Hugs, cookies and a small bit of fame for them! :D<strong>

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><p><strong>I talked a bit with Vagabond Soul and realized that I had been a bit vague (read; entirely cryptic and haven't mentioned it at all, leaving you to draw your own conclusions) with some background info about why Tigris' in-game stats are distributed like they are, so if anyone is curious, the info can be found in the bottom AN :)**

**I also realized while going through this chapter that I had put the "Defensive" tag on an offensive ability, leading to a number error in just about all of my previous chapters -_-" I am too lazy to go back and fix it, so I am afraid that you will have to put up with it. I'll promise to try my hardest to get it right from now on, though.**

**And the poll for Fading Blindness is decided! Check bottom A/N for details ;)**

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><p><strong><strong>WARNING: In order of appearance; monster AN, potty mouth, violence, threats of extreme violence, cryptic info dump, monster A/N, rant, info dump. Have fun ;P****

****Disclaimer:****

****I never got any answer to as to whether the disclaimer in the last chapter was proper enough or not, so I am just going to assume that it was and just copy-paste it in here.****

****I do in no way, shape or form own ½ Prince; Yu Wo (and whatever publishing house she is working with) does. I write this story for fun and am not making any type of monetary gain off of it.****

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><p>Chapter 19:<p>

Breaking

I gritted my teeth, ignoring the string of increasingly creative curses flitting around in the back of my mind. Even if there had been enough time to do so, putting all my unspent skill points into my physique would not have saved me from falling from a height of at least 800 meters and then having the massive boss dropped on top of me, especially considering that my HP was already down to the half way point, glowing an eerie yellow in the corner of my eye. Summoning Raiden from my inventory was likewise out; even if he would have obeyed me (which seemed to be about as unlikely as Robin ever losing his smiles at this point) he was not yet big enough to support my weight.

Ignoring the urge to start muttering or shouting the insistent curses from the back of my mind out loud, I positioned myself in the air, stretching out all my limbs until I was as flat on my stomach as I could; right now, every speck of air resistance counted. If I could just slow down a little bit, I could regain my hold on the boss and hopefully use its body as a shock-dampener for when we hit the ground.

I did not much like my chances for that, however. Even if I had disabled one wing, the other was still fully functioning, and the boss was using that to slow down its own fall. I growled. If I could just touch one feather; _one _feather, I could survive this.

As if to mock my thoughts, the massive hawk was tumbling down above me, just out of my reach.

That was when I saw a brown-green blur speeding towards me through the air.

_Oh no. Oh, please no. No, no, no, no, NO! He isn't supposed to be here!_

I did not have time to voice my thoughts before the Robin knocked into me, his arms wrapping around my torso. I could feel his small body straining with the effort of holding us both up, and panic started to creep up on me. At this point, Robin's fragile wings could barely even support _him _for more than a few flaps. Even if he had levelled up his skill, even if he had gained a level or two in our time apart and spent all of his points into his strength stat, _it would not be enough_.

Not nearly enough.

I could not – would not – allow Robin to die.

Not _ever_.

And _especially_ not for my sake.

My heart sped up, my breathing shortened; an ice-like vice had closed in around my heart.

Because despite that silent resolution, there was absolutely _nothing_ I could do.

I was helpless.

There was nothing I could do but despair, and hope, hope, _hope._

And I hated it. Despised it. Raged at it.

And with that rage came determination. Chucking those _useless_ emotions deep into the back of my mind, I gritted my teeth against the wave of blackness which broke over my vision at the action and forced myself to work around it, _through_ it. Losing my sight on top of my already missing hearing and balance was fucking scary, but I refused to yield to the panic still raging in the back of my mind.

Like _hell_ I would just give up.

I would find a way through this, and I would bloody well drag the kid with me.

If the kitten could not handle it, if the kitten gave in to those useless emotions and panicked, well...

That just meant that this was no place for a kitten.

I laughed, the sound being swallowed up into the sky.

I did not mind. Let the sky be witness; this was no kitten. This was a _tigress_.

And shame upon the tigress which could not bring down her prey.

Snarling, I jerked to the side just as the prey tumbled closer, fisting my hands into its bright feathers; the kid had brought us close enough. Seeing that the treetops were almost upon us, I knew that I had no time to play nice. Letting go of one of my handholds, I ripped loose the kid's arms from their hold around me and flung him away from the great, falling body of my prey as hard as I could. Even with wings that would most likely be exhausted by now, he would at least be able to glide safely to the ground.

Satisfied with the knowledge that the kid was out of immediate harm's way, I focused on my own survival, as increasingly unlikely as it may seem with the spear-like trees approaching beneath us.

A familiar vibration ran through my body, taking another bite out of my HP bar as the trees below _shattered_. It seemed like the prey did not fancy the concept of being impaled, either.

Knowing that this was a fight against time, I climbed up and around the massive body of my prey as fast as I could. It was my only chance of survival at this point, and even then, the shock might kill me. If I could just jump at the point of impact, though, then maybe I could get out of this fucking insane stunt alive.

My arms were shaking at this point. I have very good stamina and am quite strong, but after all this crazy sky-rodeo I had been doing, I was at my limit. If it would not have taken important time and energy, I would have been swearing my head off by now.

As it was, I needed to focus all of my being to climb those last few meters necessary to get to whatever pseudo-safety there was in this damn situation.

And focus I did.

Let go, move up, grip.

Let go, move up, grip.

Let go, move up, grip.

Even so, I did not make it.

Darkness encompassed me, bringing pain_painPAIN_ with it.

I could feel my bones breaking, shattering.

My muscles snapping, tearing.

My organs bursting, failing.

My blood flowing, rushing.

And then, it all stopped.

All the pain just disappeared.

For a brief moment, there was rest.

And _emptiness._

There was _nothing_, and I could not help but be reminded of the void in which I had been stuck in for so long in the beginning, and I clamped down hard on my useless feelings to avoid the panic which would otherwise have come. This was _different_; white to the void's black.

I had sight, even if all my other senses were gone.

And this time, I knew what was going on.

I was being reborn.

I barely had time to properly register that fact before I was back inside my body.

Or _a_ body, rather. This was just as _fake_ as the one I had just left behind, shattered, broken, crushed and _useless_ beneath the big-ass boss.

Still, despite _knowing_ that it was fake, that _none_ of this was real, and that I did not _really _need air in this detailed daydream, I could not help but gasp for it. After having had my last breath knocked out of me at my violent meeting with the ground, it was incredible having my – _the_, whatever – lungs filled again.

I restrained myself from wincing as I realized that however nice it was, it was also _painful_. Like _seriously_ painful. I knew that it was only phantom pains from my "death", caused by the fact that my brain had a bit of a hard time comprehending my rapid shifts in physical state, but still.

_Damn._

It felt like that mad scientist had miscalculated the dose when starting me up on immunity training for a new type of poison. After several days of intense training, to boot. My entire body hurt. Everything seemed to _pulse_ and _smart_ and _ache_ and my head felt like someone was trying to cave it in by planting something unbelievably heavy on top of it... which really was quite logical, considering the fact that I just had been _crushed_ to _death_.

_Not_ a nice way to go. At all.

The fact that my balance _still_ seemed to be fucked over, despite the new body being in tip-top shape did not exactly help with my general state of mind, either. Everything seemed to be _spinning_ and _lurching_ and _tilting._

I decided that it was probably a good idea to open my eyes to get some kind of visual anchor to neutralize my dizziness with.

Bracing myself so that I would not give any outwards signs of my generally shitty state of health or mind or whatever one could call this, I smoothly opened my eyes and sat up, taking in the room as I silently cursed that damned game manual out.

It had stated that, in the case of an avatar's HP hitting zero, the player would be sent back to the last town or city with a rebirth point visited (with some exceptions; for example when a rebirth point was shut down for whatever reason) and get one level subtracted, along with its skill points. Then it had gone on to mention the probability of disorientation and discomfort in a lackadaisical "_Oh, right, by the way"-_way that hadn't made it seem all that important at all.

Which it so fucking obviously _was._

Okay, so maybe I only had myself to blame for setting that pain setting much, _much_ higher than recommended, but really, if I did not do that, I would probably have become careless in combat situations after a while. And if I had gotten careless in combat situations _here_, then it would only have been a matter of time until it would have leaked out into my real life, and by then I would have been _fucked_.

So there really was not any way of getting out of this.

I sighed as I stood up from the metal flower in which I had been "reborn" in. It was similar to the great fountain in the main square in that it seemed to have just sprouted up from the wooden floor, but was much simpler in design, only having an outer ring of "petals" that shielded the recently awoken player from the worst of the light which filtered in from the sides of the room so that players would not be blinded immediately upon awakening.

Indeira's rebirth point was a quite odd structure, hanging down from the underbelly of the city, directly below the Adventurer's Hall. The only reason as to why one couldn't properly see it from the main staircase leading up to the city square was because the thick pillar that it circled around shielded the balcony-like room from view. The kid had told me about it, though, which really was the only reason as to why I knew of where I would end up when I climbed up the stairs in the middle of the room. He had actually came down here by mistake when he had somehow managed missed the hole in the floor in the Adventurer's Hall where the staircase came up.

Despite the fence put up around it.

I really had no idea of how he had managed that, but it had been sometime during his explorations of the town when he had still been obeying his orders of not leaving until his parents had sent him a babysitter.

Speaking of fences; I really did not see the point of an _angel_ city having a fence around the perimeter of this room. Even if it was pretty with its vines and plants and whatnots. Really; they could _fly_. Why bother? It was not as if falling off would be dangerous for them. Visitors like me, while not rare, were not exactly _common_, either. And most people without the ability of flight would have the sense to keep away from the edge, anyway.

And if they did not, it really should be their own damn problem. If they were stupid enough to just fall to their death like that, then they deserved the lesson.

Not that I really had much room to talk, but I knew that I certainly would be avoiding bird mobs and situations which can lead to me being crushed to death in the future.

As my thoughts lead back to that, I picked my way out of my flower and made my way over to the staircase leading up into the hustle and bustle above. As I picked my way around other metal flowers, groggy-looking players and the occasional plant, the pain and nausea finally started to fade away. By the time I had made it up the stairs and into the crowd above, there was only the ache of a good training session and a slight tilt to the world left.

Breaking out into the square, I picked my way over to the fountain and settled down, resigning myself to wait for the kid. And the brute, too, I guess. If that braindead hulking idiot got himself killed and left the kid to take care of the boss and the trip back here all alone, I would find a way to flay him alive before tuning his skin inside-out and putting it on again.

And then gouge out his eyes and make him eat them.

Just as a warning. To make him think twice before doing it again.

It was extremely stressful to be unable to do a single bloody thing except _wait_. I could not contact them, as that may result in me distracting them from the battle, and even with that boss grounded, it was one hell of an opponent for the two of them working alone. They could not afford distractions.

I could not get back to aid them, either. The damn boss was far enough away that by the time I reached the place, either they or the boss would be dead (which they _better not be_). Even considering my high agility stat and _Runner_ ability... and whatever other strange running-related ability I may have picked up somewhere along the way, I would be too slow.

Remembering that I had resolved to look through my abilities as soon as I could, and that I had nothing else to distract myself with for the moment, I called up my stat window.

"System, stats."

****Name: Pandemonium | Gender: Female****

****Level: 17 | Specie: Demon (Mountain) | Class: None | Reputation: 100 | Health: 400 | Mana: 530 | Unspent skill points: 48****

****Strength: 23 | Physique: 40 | Agility: 57 | Intelligence: 22 | Willpower: 53 | Wisdom: 33 | Charisma: 10****

****Luck: Lucky | Abilities: Offensive (22) – Neutral (16) – Defensive (13)****

Seeing that my abilities had increased even more in number since I last looked, I clicked my tongue irritably and scratched my neck. I really hoped that the insane learning speed for what was most likely odd or _extremely_ odd abilities would slow down, but apparently not. I would likely suffer from that damn high wisdom stat of mine for a while longer before it evened out with my level a bit and thus brought my learning speed down. Or when I had used most of my tricks and abilities so that the system had already given me the corresponding ability in-game. Whatever came first. Grumbling under my breath, I pressed "Offensive" to bring up the longest ability list first before sorting it in the order of the appearance of the abilities to give me something to work with concerning why the hell some of them showed up in the first place.

I ignored the abilities' levels for now, as I had no fucking idea of what the levels meant in relation to the abilities themselves, other than that it made them stronger somehow. Or longer lasting. Or something similar.

_Hm, whatever, can figure that one out later._

Instead, I focused of the abilities' names to get a brief overview of what they _may_ do, at least. I would do the same for the neutral and defensive abilities' lists before I looked closer at details and levels and whatnots.

_Trapper was the one I got with my character, Kick of Heaven's Wrath is fancy but obvious, Tripping, Neckwringer and Glare seem to hold on to the obviousness but loose the fanciness... Hold My Hand? What the actual fuck? That does not sound like an offensive ability. At all. I'll have to check it later. Precision Hit, Dagger Duellist, Kicker, Killer Aura, Terrifying Roar, Crush, Pounce, Hawkeye, Bullseye, Dual Daggers, Natural Enemies and Vacuum Kick are all fairly straightforward, I guess. Demon's Tongue... is annoyingly vague, Hand Crusher is probably from when I was trying to break the brute's hand for manhandling the kid... Traitor and Backstabber, though? What the hell did I do to earn those?_

Giving the list a weird look, I resolved to look closer into _Hold My Hand, Traitor _and _Backstabber_ later. Not that I would not with all of them, but if I was short on time, those three would go first. Closing down the window, I opened up the list of neutral abilities. A short look confirmed that I did not have any dual-typed offensive/neutral abilities.

_Scouting, Climbing, Wind Reading, Runner, Leap, Acrobatics, Sensing, Sensitive Hearing... knew about those already. Huh. Seems like the bulk of the supportive-type neutral abilities were picked up in the very beginning. I have no idea what Tag Along could possibly do, though. Endurance seems to be about as straightforward as it gets, though the rest of them are a bit strange... Big Sis, Negotiator, Observer, Tunnel Vision, Council's Liaison, Truth Seeker? The only ones I can guess out of those are Tunnel Vision and Council's Liaison._

Frowning and noting which abilities would need to be checked first, I moved on to the last and shortest list, which also seemed contain some double-natured abilities... which really only confused me more.

_Trapper, Hiding and Tripping are all easy to understand, but there's that Hold My Hand again. Killer Aura... well, I can guess that can be counted as both offensive and defensive. And Big Sis doubles as both a neutral and defensive ability, apparently. Ignoring the detail of how the fucking hell I could have picked up that, what would an ability like that even do?_

I stared incredulously at the window for a couple of seconds before I shook my head and moved on down the list.

_I can kinda guess what High Alert does, but Stoic, Overprotective, Unlikely Friend and Insulated? Why are the defensive abilities so freaking weird? Friendly Fire is at least somewhat understandable, considering that it's in the defensive section, but that Demon's Tongue is in here, too, and not just the offensive section, which is kinda confusing... unless it's similar to Killer Aura, perhaps? Skydiver makes sense, at least. Must have gotten that one from the... boss fight..._

_I wonder if they are okay? Robin was so tired..._

_Damn it kitten! I was trying to distract myself!_

Growling softly to myself, I closed all the windows and stood up. It had been hard enough concentrating on the abilities in the first place when I knew that my team was out there and in danger without me there to protect the kid, and now that what little concentration I _had_ actually managed to gather had been scattered to the winds, I most likely would not be able to gather it again.

And I could not exactly go off monster hunting or to some secluded spot to train, either, no matter how stress-relieving it may have been, because I needed to stay here so that they could find me when they got back. I slammed my hand into the fountain beside me, growling.

"Damn it!"

I ignored the looks thrown my way as none of them seemed to be hostile; _scared_, rather. It seemed like an angry demon – a.k.a: me – could be pretty damn intimidating. Not bothering to calm down for the sake of scared, _feathered_ prey, I started pacing, cursing under my breath all the while.

A quite wide "safety-zone" had formed around me by the time the long-awaited window appeared before me.

****Connection to Player Robin Established****

**End Connection?**

**[Yes]**

"**So can I talk _now_?"**

I felt a grin spreading across my face. The kid was safe. I answered him as I swept the PM window to the side so that it would not get in the way.

"**Yeah, kid, you can talk now."**

"**Pan!"**

I had not really believed in the shit about hearing someone smile before this. Needless to say, I do now. Though I guess that if it was that kid, he could make _anyone_ believe that it was possible to hear a smile.

"**Hey kiddo."**

"**PAN! Don't you ever, ever, ever, _ever, EVER _do that again. EVER. You promised! You can't go around breaking promises! That's bad!"**

I winced and sank in on myself. Tears had always been easy to hear, and it was obvious that Robin was either already crying, or was about to.

Because of me.

"**An' it's not- it's not just ba- ad, it's super, super... _super _ba- ad! You pro- promised. You pin- _pinky_ promised. _YOU PROMISED!_"**

Panic and shame welled up within me, and I slumped back onto the fountain, shrinking down into myself. He was right. I had broken my promise. There must have been other ways to solve the boss problem. I had not been careful, had broken a _pinky promise_, and made Robin sad.

I deserved to be yelled at.

I deserved Every. Single. Word.

So I listened.

And swore to do my best to ensure that it would never, _ever_, happen again.

I would keep Robin alive.

Alive _and_ happy.

Whatever it took.

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><p><strong>This chapter was <em>moody<em>. I swear. Chapters can now have moods and this one decided to be a decidedly uncooperative perfectionist bitch (please excuse my language, this has been bugging me for _days_). It wanted to be written _just so_, and if I wasn't up to it, then, well. That was my problem. "_Bye-bye, come again another day~"_ As a result, this chapter was written in bits and pieces over the course of several days and may not be all that it believed itself to have the right to become. It even decided that it knew better than me halfway through and wanted to be written in 3rd person POV. Let me tell you that convincing a bitchy chapter that it _could not do that_, because _all _my _previous chapters_ were written in 1st person POV was _not funny. At all_. All because this little princess wanted to be _special_. Ugh. Then when I finally thought I was done, she decided to sulk and refuse every single name I thought up for her. Colour me unamused. With frustrated stripes while you are at it, please? I am _so _glad to _finally_ get this posted that you wouldn't _believe._**

**_Hrm._**

**Sorry about that. Rant over now. I shouldn't have had it to begin with. This chapter already has monster A/N without that adding to it... So I'll just get on with it and give you that explanation I promised you in the beginning A/N about why her stats are distributed the way they are (I will ignore the charisma stat, as that one is randomly allotted).**

**Pandemonium's stats currently look like this, due to the skill transferral from her real body in chapter 7:**

**Strength: 23 | Physique: 40 | Agility: 57 | Intelligence: 22 | Willpower: 53 | Wisdom: 33**

**So if we subtract the points originating in her character itself, Tigris would have a stat card looking like this:**

**Strength: 17 | Physique: 34 | Agility: 47 | Intelligence: 19 | Willpower: 43 | Wisdom: 23**

**This is due to how she was raised. If we take the reasons behind the separate stats in their order of appearance:**

**STRENGTH. Tigris isn't actually very strong. The Granes wanted her as an effective guard/body double/assassin as early as possible, and for that to happen, strength had to take a back seat. Children, even genetically modified children, can not build much raw strength, and if they try, it will stunt their growth. The Granes wanted her to be as absolutely similar to Rizza as was possible and that meant no growth-stunting for the sake of a so small increase in muscle tone. So her training focused in other areas, and by the time she was old enough to start building more muscle, she had developed her technique to work without it and rethinking and retraining her technique would take too much time and effort for a too small reward. Besides, being a bit low on powerful muscles is only good, as great differences in muscle tone between her and Rizza would be noted. As it is now, her agile, wiry and enduring muscles can be hidden. That wouldn't have worked if she had been geared towards more powerful muscles. Also, as a female, she would not have been able to build enough muscle to compete with her male counterparts, anyway.**

**PHYSIQUE. The reasons for her high numbers in this is because of her endurance, immune system, healing rate and poison resistance. Her endurance was something she was trained in practically from her first steps, not to mention that she has the ability to go on for much longer than a normal human without basic nutrients or water, and only part of that is due to her sheer stubbornness. She underwent training to polish up her metabolism and make it as efficient as absolutely possible during her early years, and due to the fact that she is fed _just_ what she needs, neither more or less, that efficiency is kept up. Then we have her immune system, which is pretty damn strong – the only times she gets sick are from some poisons or infected wounds – and her healing rate, which is slightly accelerated compared to a normal human's. On top of that is her poison-resistance, trained up from infancy by Vincent. All in all it contributes to her good Physique stat.**

**AGILITY. This is Tigris' strength. Since she's female, she will not be able to either overpower or outlast a male of equal level to herself. As such, almost all of her training focused on speed, flexibility, accuracy, manoeuvrability, technical prowess, reaction speed, and sheer sneakiness. Couple that with intimate knowledge of every single weakness of the human body and a mentality of "fair play is idiocy", our little kitten is one scary ninja :3**

**INTELLIGENCE. It may not seem that way, but Tigris' IQ is actually fairly average. The reason for why she may come across as smarter than she actually is is due to a shitload of training and experience. She has been drilled mercilessly until tactical thinking in situations with subterfuge, infiltration, information gathering, potential threats, actual threats, live combat etc. come as second nature to her. It _has_ to. Or she, and those she protects, would have been screwed by now. Give her a maths problem or something like that, and she's even worse than average.**

**WILLPOWER. As I think I have mentioned before, this is the stubbornness stat. And Tigris is pretty damn stubborn when she wants to be. Not to mention that her mind is like a psychic minefield from breaking, rebuilding, refocusing and trying to hold itself together as best as it can. The reason (with a bit of help from Theron) as to why she has made it this far in life with an actual personality is this stubbornness of hers, so I put it as her second greatest stat after her agility.**

**WISDOM. Now this is a tricky stat. Tigris is more than plenty street-smart, experienced and knowledgeable in some areas (as mentioned before), but a complete idiot in other areas. If the test she underwent to determine this stat had been focused on her specialities, she'd have gotten crazy high points for it. As it was, it mostly tested general knowledge, which she is quite bad at, other than the basics needed for her body double missions. That resulted in Wisdom ending up just slightly higher than Intelligence... not that it's not causing her problems anyway ;)**

**There. I hope that that clears it up :)**

**THE POLL regarding Fading Blindness was taken down slightly prior to this chapter going up, with 10 lovely voters! A thousand thanks to all of you :D You can see the full results in my profile, but ROBIN and WILLIAM (that's Tigris' future love, for those who didn't know... and don't worry if you didn't, he hasn't shown up yet ;P) won! :D So those are the first one-shots/drabbles you'll see when Fading Blindness comes up! :D Hopefully that will be shortly, but by now many of you probably know what I'm like with procrastinating... (it's a miracle I've been updating on time for so long) Not to mention that I have a One Piece drabble series and a Harry Potter two-shot already in the making, and those two take precedence, I'm afraid... :( It's a promise to two dear friends of mine :D**

**To all of those who wanted someone else in Fading Blindness: not to worry, they'll show up eventually :) As a matter of fact, I'll probably soon lay up a new poll with the winners taken out of it to see which characters you want to see after them :)**

**That's it for the monsternote! Thanks to all of you who bothered to read it :D If there are any questions, don't hesitate to ask! I'll answer as well as I can :) Just leave a review or drop a PM, and I'll answer :) I may be a bit slow sometimes, but I try to get back to my readers fairly quickly :)**

**Reviews make this little fish very happy :)**


	20. Threshold

**I want to thank Greatazuredragon, krad09, Vagabond Soul and Vendelareader for reviewing chapter 19 :) Cyberhugs and cookies for them, as well as this small bit of fame ;)**

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><p><strong>I am terribly sorry about this chapter being a day late. It's just that a bunch of my friends graduated yesterday, and that that sort of took up my entire day... so you get this chapter today instead! Sorry for not giving you any warning about this, though... It had slipped my mind when I was writing chapter 19.<strong>

**Speaking of:**

**For all those who read ****_Chapter 19: Breaking_**** before 31/5; I have edited Pan's rebirth quite a bit. What actually happens doesn't really change, so you don't exactly have to go back and re-read it to understand this chapter or the rest of the story, but I have changed the scenery by quite a bit, so if you feel that you were dissatisfied by that scene, you can go back to check it :) It should be somewhat better, at least :)**

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><p><strong><strong><span>Disclaimer:<span>****

****Still no protests or lawsuits, sooo...****

****I do in no way, shape or form own ½ Prince; Yu Wo (and whatever publishing house she is working with, I guess) does. I write this story for fun and am not making any type of monetary gain off of it.****

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><p>Chapter 20:<p>

Threshold

After everything that had happened, our small party of three were finally off to turn in mine and Robin's class quests and get our classes... or rather; Robin was. This was more of a first step for me to be able to gain the Beast Warrior class that I had requested.

I was... in a bit of a daze, to be perfectly honest. All the tumultuous happenings and feelings of the day (or night, maybe...? In the real world, at least) had left me feeling more than a little wrung-out. The whole world seemed... strange. There was this feeling in the back of my mind that made me want to laugh at everything, but at the same time, it just felt so pointless to do it. Not to mention that I felt numb. And tired. The whole world seemed to be a bit distant, actually. But at the same time, closer than ever, more brilliant than ever. But dull, oh so dull.

It was all very confusing.

Anyway, after we had all reunited, Robin had attached himself to me in a surprisingly strong hug (refusing to let go of me or speak to anyone for about half an hour) and Wrath had slapped me upside the head with a: "You're a fucking lunatic, bitch. But thanks, I guess." We had then proceeded to exchanging the tales of what had happened in the time we had been apart, and our views on the battle with the giant, orange/green hawk boss monster, which I remembered having been titled as the "Sky King" from my scan with _Scouting _before the fight truly began.

The two of them seemed to have picked up on my strange state of mind, though, because after we had gotten our reports out of the way, they had mostly left me alone so that I would get some time to sort it out while we headed for the Archer and Warrior class NPCs.

Wrath had laughed about it, however, and said something about me putting way to much thought into the scolding Robin had given me, and that he "only" had been worried.

"Only," because Wrath seemed to put way to little worth into it. It was serious that Robin had been worried. He should not have to worry about me.

Despite this being so important, however, I must admit to spending too little time thinking about it compared to what I should have. The issue deserved to occupy the majority of my mind, to make sure that it never happened again, but I just couldn't bring myself to give it that much attention.

Something else seemed to be stealing most of my thoughts away from the subject. I could not put an exact finger on what it was, but everything just seemed so... cluttered and confusing suddenly. As if my perception of the world had shifted, but not so much that I could identify what exactly had changed; just enough so that I knew that it had, and that some lines of thought or reason suddenly seemed strangely... flat, or faceted, I guess are the best ways to describe them, even if those are not exactly the words I felt myself seeking.

Sometimes, things seemed to have lost a dimension. Or maybe some type of colour that did not really have a name or a concrete... well, colour, but had still been there, underneath all the others, and without it the other colours seemed to become flat or lacklustre as they mourned the passing of one of their brethren. Or like the moon had disappeared, despite the fact that it was still shining. Or like... all the water had disappeared, but you weren't thirsty. It was a feeling of that something was missing, and at the same time... not.

I quickly decided that it was a very strange feeling, and that I did not like it.

Not one bit.

What was even stranger, though (but perhaps not quite as unwelcome as the other feeling), was when things seemed to have gained a dimension they previously had not had. It was like seeing double, yet at the same time knowing exactly which image was the true one. However, despite knowing which one the true image was, in no way discarding the false one, due to seeing some kind of immeasurable worth in it. It was like... wanting to laugh at the whole world, while at the same time finding nothing funny about it at all.

I frowned and came to a conclusion.

_I need to sleep. Real sleep. My mind needs rest._

As the corners of my mouth once again twitched upwards and I smothered a chuckle, I reinforced that thought.

_As soon as this whole class business is over and done with, I will be logging out and getting some real sleep._

The sun was about to set anyway, indicating the general recommended time for players to log out and get some authentic sleep, so it probably wouldn't be too hard for me to convince Wrath and Robin that it was best to call it a day. Even if they did not have the added mental stress of a death to strain their minds, they should still be tired; especially Robin. Even if he seemed to have a bottomless well of energy, he was still a child, and as such needed his rest even more than Wrath and I.

Though that did not mean that he recognized that fact. It had been hard to convince him that it was time to stop playing yesterday, and I doubted that it would be any easier today. Hopefully, Wrath would be able to help me on that front.

Though I had this nagging/laughing feeling that he probably was just as likely to watch the whole argument from the sidelines, amused.

I pressed it down, because there was _still_ nothing around to laugh about.

This persistent urge to laugh just made me confused.

_Sleep_, I reminded myself. The concept seemed to become more and more alluring with every minute that ticked by.

By the time we reached the Archer NPC, I was torn between laughing, yawning and just holding my nose and running in the other direction. I managed to resist all three urges, though, despite the NPC being stationed between the butchery and the tanner behind the Adventurer's Hall this time. Needless to say, the location made for quite a large amount of unpleasantness for my sensitive nose.

What was good about this less-than-desirable location, though, was that the line earlier observed when the NPC had stood inside the Adventurer's Hall was just about non-existent. There was just one angel before us in line – a messenger, just like Robin – and he concluded his business fairly quickly, no doubt wanting to get away as soon as possible.

Seeing that she was free, Robin grabbed a hold of both me and Wrath and dragged us forward with him. I stumbled a bit at the sudden action, while Wrath gave an indignant yell. Robin was unperturbed, though, and immediately struck up a friendly and slightly hyper conversation with the NPC, barely even pausing when he glowed white as a sign of the system registering his class change.

Whomever had designed the NPC's speech recognition program must have been quite skilled, because she did not seem confused at all; amused, rather. And then very shocked and horrified when Robin told her about our misadventures with the two bosses.

"I have never heard of anyone having had bad enough luck to bring out the Sky King before, unless they were actively seeking him... He usually does not care much about his charges, and mostly leaves them on their own. For him to come out, and for you to get through that meeting alive... I cannot decide whether your luck is incredibly bad or incredibly good. It is a testament to your skill, though, as well as your companions', that you managed to bring him to the ground and defeat him, especially after already having dealt with the Hawk Monarch before him." At this, she paused and frowned, clearly deliberating something before once again speaking up.

"Usually this rite of passage would only have given you the privilege of calling yourself an Archer, with three archery abilities and a random weapon of the style of your choosing to send you on your way. After this feat, however, I think that it is only fitting to reward you and your companions properly. It is not usually done for those outside of our calling, but I am willing to teach them one archery ability each, should they want it, and for you, brave fletchling, I have a very special bow. How does that sound?"

I, and seemingly Wrath, too, was stunned upon hearing that we had apparently stumbled upon some kind of secret quest point, or maybe even a side quest. Robin had no such trouble, however, and answered almost immediately with a glowing smile on his face.

"Thank you! That would be very nice of you, Lady!" At that, she smiled back at him.

"You can call me Pilea, fletchling. Then, would you all please come with me? I do not usually carry this bow around, so we will have to go and fetch it. In the meantime, you can all consider what abilities you would want me to teach you." At this, she started walking, motioning for us to follow as she looked back over her shoulder. "You can choose three, fletchling, and your companions can choose one each. The ten original archery abilities are split into two categories; passive and active abilities. Passive abilities will always be with you, and require no thought once you have learnt them, but the active ones will require you to channel magic for them to work. The five passive abilities are _Rapid Fire_, _Simultaneous Fire, Increased Strength, Litheness_ and _Life Extension_. The five active abilities are _Headshot, Armour Penetration, Gale Arrow, Sniper _and _Vicious Shot_."

As soon as she was finished with the explanation, system windows dropped down in front of us, listing the abilities, their classifications, requirements and details. Scanning through them, I immediately discarded _Rapid Fire, Simultaneous Fire, Headshot, Gale Arrow, Sniper _and _Vicious Shot_, as they would not be of any use to me without a bow and arrows. That left me with _Increased Strength, Litheness, Life Extension _and _Armour Penetration._ They were all undeniably very useful, but with all my extra skill points lying in wait, unused, it just felt strange to choose one of the stat-increasing abilities. That left me with only one option left; _Armour Penetration_. Nodding, I increased my pace a bit to come up beside Pilea, Robin grabbing my hand and coming with me when I passed him.

"I would be honoured if you could teach me _Armour Penetration_, ma'am." Pilea looked a bit taken aback at this.

"My, such a polite demon. Of course I can! It is much simpler than it seems, really. You just need to channel raw magic into your weapon while focusing on sharpening and strengthening it. Those skilled enough can do this silently, but usually the wielder needs to say '_Armour Penetration_' to be able to focus properly on the effects and activate the ability. I would advise you to start with that before you try to do it silently, to get used to the ability." I nodded.

"Thank you." I suspected that if I had not disabled most of my system notifications, I would have received one telling me that I had learnt the ability.

Shortly after that, Wrath asked to for _Life Extension_ and received it. Only, instead of getting an explanation, like I had, Pilea instead retrieved a small green orb from her satchel and gave it to him. As he took it, it sank into his hand and he gave off a brief green glow before returning back to normal. While I and Robin were a little startled by the whole process, Wrath seemed unperturbed, leading me to believe that he had gone through something similar before, when he received his own class.

Robin quickly got over it, though, and asked for his own abilities. He had settled on only active abilities; _Headshot, Sniper _and _Vicious Shot_, leading me to believe that he was aiming for a one-hit-kill build, which I most certainly approved of. It would keep him out of most fights, away from danger.

I listened as he received his explanations and memorized them, just in case there was some way to replicate and modify the abilities for myself later. With my high wisdom stat, I should probably be able to pick them up, even without learning them in the conventional way. It was probably about time for me to put that stat into something useful.

As Pilea was reaching the end of her explanations for Robin – which probably took her much longer than she had expected them to, as Robin (being Robin) asked her about a hundred questions for every ability – we were passing through one of the higher located living districts. We had barely walked a hundred meters in silence before she asked us to wait and went into one of the houses on the street, painted a light blue and hung with some kind of white, wall-climbing flower that was quite common in Indeira. She was barely gone for half a minute before she came out again, lightly flushed and with a smile on her face.

"Here it is! This is the _Light Seizer_! It's been in the care of the Archery Masters of this town for _ages_. The previous master did not even know where it came from. He only knew that it was to remain in our care until someone worthy showed up, and that we were to present it to this worthy Archer in the hopes that the bow would choose them. It is somehow supposed to choose its master or mistress. I do not know how, I just know that neither I or any of the previous Archery Masters have been able to wield it." At this, we were all properly intrigued, our curiosity awakened. We all leant forward slightly as she unwrapped the silky white cloth that had hidden the bow from view.

As the last piece of cloth fell away, I felt my eyes widen as Robin gasped. I did not know much about bows, but this was the most beautiful recurve bow I had ever seen, in what looked to be some kind of silvery metal inlaid with golden patterns. I quickly noticed, though, that it sadly seemed to be far to big for the diminutive angel boy. Robin either had not noticed this, or did care about it, though, as he hesitantly stretched forth a hand and asked, much more subdued than usual;

"Can I touch it?" Pilea nodded and extended the bow towards him.

"Go ahead."

Robin wasted no time and gingerly reached forward to pick it up. No sooner had he touched it, though, than it started to glow, then shine with a blinding brilliance. As the light died down again, and our eyes were in working order once again, we all saw that the bow had... _changed_. Not only had it shrunk down to match Robin's height exactly, it had also gained a new pattern with green leaves and golden sparrows, not to mention that it was now stringed with what looked like pure light and that a matching, full quiver had attached itself to Robin's right hip.

We all stood speechless for a few moments before Robin gained a face-splitting grin.

"Can I really keep it, Pilea? Really?" The NPC still seemed a bit dazed, and nodded before she said;

"Of course you can. It has chosen you, anyway. It will not accept another master now, if I remember the previous Master's words correctly. It is yours, and I most certainly hope that it will help you on your journey, young adventurer. Now, I would love to help you get used to it, but I must return to my post. There are surely other Adventurers who await my advice. Good day, and fare well, all af you." I opted to just nod back to her, but Robin and Wrath answered her, even if the latter looked decidedly uncomfortable still. He did not seem to like interacting with NPCs very much.

"Bye-bye, Pilea! I'll take really good care of it, promise!"

"Goodbye."

"I'm sure you will!" She answered Robin before disappearing around a corner, at which I suddenly remembered that I should have asked her about whether she knew were the warrior class NPC, Kelio, was at. I sighed at the lost opportunity, before I turned to my companions.

"We still need to find the warrior NPC, or Cato. Do any of you know where we can find them?" Wrath was the first to answer.

"Who is the Cato dude? Don't we need to hand in your class quest before we go around doing other shit?" Robin hung his new bow across his back in a way that would not obstruct his wings and said energetically;

"He is this really nice, really cool and really, really strong old warrior! He's even strong enough to be on the Council! He helped Pan get her quest, 'cause he is the retired warrior class fixer and he told us that we could turn it in to him to, and not just Kelio!" Robin had grabbed both our hands as he was saying this, and now promptly started to drag us off. "Come on, I know where he is!"

After that, we were dragged through the town, ending up in a small park not too far from the town square. As we got there, though, Robin abruptly stopped in his own tracks. Thankfully, both me and Wrath were quite used to this by now, and as such could stop ourselves in time.

"He's not here... but he's _always _here by sunset, he told me so!" Seeing that Robin was becoming upset, I interfered.

"I am sure that he usually is, but maybe the Council called him away? He has some really important work to do with them, after all." At that, Robin cheered up.

"You're right!" But then, his energy disappeared again almost as quickly as it had come back. "But if he isn't here, then how will we turn in your quest? I don't know where Kelio is..." I did not know what to say to that, as I, quite honestly, did not know of the NPC's location, either. It was at that moment that Wrath spoke up.

"I don't know shit about this angel town, but in my starting town, the warrior NPC hung about the Blacksmith's a lot. We could always check there to start with, in case there are similarities between the towns, I guess..." I nodded. That seemed logical.

"Robin? Do you know the way there?"

"Yeah! It's on one of the big streets by the town square! Come on, this way!"

Without further ado, we were once more dragged off. The journey was not quite as long this time, though, and we soon came into contact with the Blacksmith's Shop and the crowd outside. Scanning the mass, I quickly found our NPC. It certainly was useful to already know his name. Having found our target, I tugged on Robin's hand and lead the way to the end of what could (with some effort, as the warriors-to-be were not ever nearly as orderly as the archers-to-be) be identified as the queue to him.

What the warriors lacked in orderliness, though, they made up for in speed. Though the queues had been about equally long, it went much quicker to get to Kelio than what it had done to get to Pilea the first time around.

I got a good look at Kelio before my turn was up, and suddenly understood why Cato stepped in for him every now and again to give him some time off to spend with his family. His eyes appeared sunken, with deep shadows under them, his chin was covered in stubble, not to mention the sorry state of his feathers. Most Guardians that I had seen seemed to lay much weight in the state of their feathers, which was understandable, considering that they covered the majority of their bodies, but Kelio looked positively shaggy. If he had looked any worse, I probably would have thought him to be quite sick. I decided to be as easy to deal with as possible once it was my turn. He did definitely not need anything more than necessary on him plate right now.

So I withdrew the Wolf Fangs from my inventory before I stepped up and asked Kelio;

"Here are the Wolf Fangs for the Rite of Passage. I received instructions for the challenge from Council Member Cato... I hope that that is okay?" Kelio gave me a tired smile in return and took the fangs as he answered;

"Of course. Welcome into the proud ranks of the Warriors." At that I felt a rush of... something pass through me as I glowed and my class became registered as 'Warrior' inside the system. "I am happy that you chose this difficult path. To help you with your first steps upon it, I am to give you a weapon of your choosing as well as impart to you three of the original ten warrior abilities. I recommend that you think carefully before you chose, as you can not come back to change your decision later," at that, I idly wondered how many tried to do just that, "and since your choices here will influence the rest of your career. Do you have any particular weapon in mind? Otherwise I can recommend some for you."

At that, I frowned. I was quite comfortable with dagger wielding, just like I had done so far in the game, but if what Cato had told me earlier about the Beast Warriors being a 'Shield' was true, then it was most likely that my wished-for class would be geared towards a tanking role. I did not really mind it (it appealed to me, as a matter of fact, since that would make it easier for me to protect Robin... and Wrath, I guess), but it did mean that I should choose fitting weapons for that role, which daggers were most certainly not. At the same time, I did not feel like learning an entirely new weapons style just for the sake of this game, which would be the case if I chose anything shield-related. So I considered what I knew that could be fitting for a tanking role.

"What kinds of staff- and spear-type weapons do you have?" Kelio seemed relived that I knew what I wanted, and was being perfectly reasonable about it.

"'Staffs' and 'Spears' are the two categories I have. All staff- and spear-typed weapons are sadly clumped together like that into those two categories, so there is a certain amount of chance involved into what kind of spear or staff you would receive. Do you still want to take the chance?" I nodded.

"Yes, I would like to receive a spear-typed weapon, please." He nodded in return with a small, relieved smile and fished up a pen and some paper from his pocket and scribbled something down on it before giving it to me."

"Very well, take this to the Blacksmith's later, then. The cashier will give you your weapon. I hope that your luck holds for something good. Now then, which three abilities do you want? The ten original warrior abilities are split into two categories; passive and active abilities. Passive abilities will always be with you, and require no thought once you have learnt them, but the active ones will require you to channel magic for them to work. The five passive abilities are _Continuous Attack, Increased Strength, Reinforced Defence, Litheness_ and _Life Extension_. The five active abilities are _Heavy Blow, Inferno Slash, Fatal Blow, Blazing Determination _and _Impenetrable Wall_."

The speech was immediately recognizable as the same one that Pilea had made earlier, just slightly modified, and just like then, an information window for the abilities showed up. I immediately ruled out _Inferno Slash _and _Fatal Blow_ due to the fact that they were for one-handed and small weapons respectively, neither of which was suitable for the spear-typed weapon that I would receive. _Increased Strength, Reinforced Defence, Litheness_ and _Life Extension_ quickly followed due to the same reasoning as earlier, with the archery abilities; it seemed pointless to have stat-boosting abilities when I had all of those unused skill points lying in wait. That left me with _Continuous Attack, Heavy Blow, Blazing Determination _and _Impenetrable Wall_. Thinking on it a bit, I realized that spears were not the best suited for many swift attacks anyway, unless I started wielding mine as a staff, so I decided to rule _Continuous Attack _out. It seemed like a fairly easy ability to pick up anyway; with my for the moment quite imbalanced wisdom stat, I would surely only have to land a lot of quick blows in succession on a monster.

"I would like to learn _Heavy Blow, Blazing Determination _and _Impenetrable Wall, _please."

At that, Kelios smiled and launched into an explanation of the three abilities before I bid him farewell and we all headed into the Blacksmith's crowded shop to get my spear.

I felt a small smile grow on my lips. It felt good that we all finally had our classes; like we had crossed over some kind of invisible threshold.

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><p><strong><strong>There! Chapter 20 done! Please don't mind the chapter title? I'm <strong>****_**really **_******not good with that stuff... Anyway, I hope that it was good, despite its lateness. To be honest, this chapter ran away with me a bit. Pan was ******_**not**_****** meant to have a spear... but since this is what the characters wanted, I figured that I might as well let them. It usually turns out better that way ;)****

****Next chapter should take us back into the real world! Rejoice or despair, whatever you feel like.****

****I would be very happy if you could drop a few words in that box down there on your way out :)****


	21. Weapon

**I want to thank Greatazuredragon, Vagabond Soul, Vendelareader, krad09 and Guest (your reply is at the bottom of the chapter) for reviewing chapter 20 :) Cyberhugs and cookies for them, as well as this small bit of fame ;)**

**I have not answered all of you yet (Sorry! orz) but I'll get around to it as soon as I can, promise!**

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><p><strong>I am terribly, awfully, <strong>**_extremely_**** sorry for this chapter being over a ****_week_**** late. I really, really, ****_really_**** didn't mean for this to happen. I blame the fact that this chapter had an additional approximate 13 or 14 pages that never made it here due to me rewriting the beginning about 7 times, and the end about 3 times, before I had a chapter that I was satisfied with... -_-" Also, Flight Rising happened. As an avid dragon fan I will be honest with you and say that that distracted quite a bit, too ^^"**

**I promise that the next chapter will be on time, though! So it will show up next Wednesday, the 9****th**** of July :)**

**Also, I found a simple site which converts the metric system to the imperial one or vice versa. If I am confusing anyone with my metric terms (I know most people's imperial terms confuse me, so I figured that the opposite would also hold true), feel free to remove the spaces and refer to that site. Or whatever other, similar site you might prefer.**

** www. albireo. ch/imperialconverter/**

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><p><strong><strong>WARNING: Wrath and Pan are still around each other, you know? Potty mouths.<strong>**

****Disclaimer: I d****o in no way, shape or form own ½ Prince; Yu Wo (and whatever publishing house she is working with, I guess) does. I write this story for fun and the only type of gain that I am making off of it are in the form of follows, favs, reviews and nice conversations with my readers :) Excellent ego boosters, all of them :3****

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><p>Chapter 21:<p>

Weapon

I found myself regretting my choice of weapon before we even entered the crowded blacksmith's shop. I was really only trained with a staff, but I had chosen spear on the basis of the _Armour Penetration_ ability that I had gotten from the Archer NPC, as well as the thought that it would probably be nice to be able to utilize something other than blunt force sometimes. The laughing thought in the back of my mind (_Amateur mistake, Kitten; a spear is __not__ the same as a staff with a pointy end!_) had woken me up from my foolish line of thought quite quickly, however, but still too late; the choice had already been made, there was no going back now.

All I could hope for was that my luck held and I received a short spear, and not some type of lance or pike or some other unwieldy or long spear type, since I did not think that I could handle anything that was much longer than 180 centimetres.

Considering the fact that spears _very_ rarely were shorter than 140 centimetres, and not seldom exceeded the 7 meter mark, it was really no wonder that I was slightly dreading speaking to the clerk. After mine and Robin's earlier shopping, I was not sure whether I had enough money left for a decent weapon if this one turned out badly.

The noisy crowd inside the shop did not really improve on my state of mind, either. I did not need people bumping into me or shouting or dropping a pile of swords right beside me, especially with the strange tension I had been feeling ever since my "death". I was _very _glad that I had had Robin and Wrath stay outside, not only because this shop really did not need another pair of bodies in it, but also because that meant that I would not have to watch out for Robin in the crowd so that nothing happened.

After some effort, I finally discerned what was the queue and what was simply players milling about with no apparent task in mind and went to stand last in line. Before I got there, though, a conversation between what appeared to be more experienced players caught my ear, and with a quick scan by my _Scouting_, I confirmed that I indeed could not see their levels. Pausing, I tuned in to their conversation though the general noise in the shop.

"...distributed now."

"Really? I thought that they'd wait longer until they handed them all out."

"Well, apparently not. Either that, or-"

A sudden crash of a couple of shields falling to the floor behind me made me lose some of the dialogue, but I found the pair again soon.

"-azy, right? They barely had time to fix the issues with the last one before they introduce this, and from what I've heard, it's a massive one, and it's not even _done _yet."

"Yeah, my head aches just from hearing about it; imagine how many bugs will sneak in with this! Still, it's pretty neat, all things considering."

"'Pretty neat'? That's all you've got to say after we hiked all the way out here from Infinite City? Admit it, you're as hyped as everyone else for this."

"Nah, just seems problematic for me; _you_ were the one to drag me out here, remember? I was all for staying in the city for the next concert. Though I must admit that I haven't seen this much life in the starter towns since SL's original launch..."

I frowned and contemplated moving, as they were headed out of the shop and away from me, but decided that it was better to just get my weapon and get out to get some sleep as soon as possible. I could not resist listening in on them for the last few metres towards the door, though.

"I haven't, either; all those new players must be pretty confused about all the..."

A shout blocked out the rest of the conversation, and then, just like that, they were gone. Frowning, I found the line and took my place last in it. That there was some kind of special event could explain why Cato had not been in the park at sunset, like he was supposed to have been. They had not given me all that much information, really, but it had helped connect a few more dots, especially since I already had some information. _Second Life _seemed to be undergoing a series of updates, partly because of the crown campaign and partly because of (or that is how it seemed to be, at least) my wish.

I really hoped that the latter was not true, though.

_But if Cato's story about the Beast Warriors means what I think it does, then... no! It can't be. It can't. I mean..._

Feeling that strange laughing feeling bubbling up inside me again, I pushed it down, containing the urge to growl and resolved not to think about it.

_Whatever_ the cause for these updates were, one thing was for sure, and that is that they were luring players out into the starting towns, which would explain the strangely large crowds which had been here during our stay. I had wondered about it, as even with the campaign drawing in new people into the game, it could not account for _that_ large of an influx, considering that most people who were inclined to play in the first place had already had accounts before the campaign, something that new consoles would not have affected, as the old accounts would just have been carried over.

I was startled out of my line of thought and reflexively drew my left dagger as a blue cockatoo glided overhead, skimming my scalp with its claws. I had to forcibly restrain myself from attacking as I saw the armour on it, as well as the fact that it landed on the padded shoulder guard of the player in front of me. Slipping the dagger back into its sheath as discreetly as possible (though I still saw an angel passing by my left side eyeing me suspiciously), I kept a wary eye on the cockatoo.

It did not take long until I had to restrain myself from once again drawing my dagger as the cockatoo turned its head to its owner and... spoke.

I blinked, half convinced that I had imagined the whole thing, before its owner... answered.

I stared blankly ahead of me for a good long minute, absent mindedly shuffling forward as queue moved, before I remembered and had to hold back that laughing feeling again.

_Right. Pets above level 40 can talk. Had forgotten about that._

That problem sorted, it was not long before I reached the counter and could turn over the note I had received from Kelio. The NPC behind the counter scanned it, blinked, and then smiled amiably at me.

"Another new warrior? Alright, then. I will be right back with a spear for you."

I nodded, and despite knowing that the whole process would be random, I could not help but try to influence the weapon to be allotted to me after my earlier worries.

"Umm... could I please receive a fairly short spear?"

The NPC did not appear as if she had heard me, as she kept walking into the back room. She returned swiftly, though, a... scroll in hand?

_Why? Was she not fetching my weapon?_

Either she had noticed my confusion, or it was a part of her script, because as she returned to the counter, she said;

"We have been somewhat short on space lately, so we hired in a couple of mages knowledgeable in runework to seal some of the extras away. I hope that you do not mind?"

I shook my head silently and took the scroll from her.

"Great! Your weapon will automatically unseal itself once you open the scroll. Remember that you will not be able to re-seal the weapon into the scroll once you have unsealed it."

As she seemed to be waiting for a response, I nodded, and that seemed to have been what she was waiting for, as she continued.

"Well then, was there anything else you wanted?"

I shook my head again and thanked her, turning around to make my way out of the shop with the scroll.

Once I was out, it was not terribly difficult to find Wrath and Robin again; even if I had not had the _Scouting _ability, I would have been able to find them by simply following the commotion. Making my way over, I saw that Robin had once again attracted a crowd of overenthusiastic females, and that Wrath's awkward blustering did not help much with keeping them away from him. I felt a growl growing in my throat with every step I took towards them, my emotions and thoughts falling away one by one until there was only anger left.

_I'll make sure that they learn to keep the fuck away from my kid._

Said kid, as oblivious and trusting as always, had not seemed to notice the predatory glint in the surrounding females' eyes, so while he appeared to be slightly uncomfortable with the situation, he did not take any measures to get out of there. Slipping through the crowd, I grabbed the wrist of one who was trying to drag the kid away and _squeezed_. The vapid bitch seemed to have some sort of self-preservation instinct, at least, because she yelped and let go, trying to yank her wrist away from me. Throwing her a look, I judged her as a non-threat due to her level and attitude, so I let her go, focusing on te kid instead to make sure that he had not come to any harm. He shone up at seeing me and stood from his seat on the lacquered bench that they had found, launching himself at me in a hug.

"Pan! You're back! Why did you take so long? We were waiting for ages!" Feeling my anger draining away, I gave him a tired smile.

"Sorry, kiddo; it was a bit hectic in there."

"Okay! So whe-" He was cut of by the brute's rumbling voice;

"How the _fuck_ did you do that!? I've been trying to get them to mind their own business ever since you went in, and they just _wouldn't listen._ Then you come by, all casual-like, and the lot of them just scamper off with their tails between their legs!" I felt the growl building again and glared at the bumbling fool. Fortunately for him, he shut up and I turned my attention back to the kid, lifting an eyebrow to prompt him to go on. He blinked at me a couple of times from where he was wrapped around my waist before he remembered what it was he wanted to say before the brute interrupted.

"Oh, yeah! Where's your weapon? I wanna see! Can I? Please?" I smiled and nodded, showing him the scroll.

"It's in here."

I could have sworn that the kid started _glittering_ at that, that glowing grin in place as he let me go and jumped back, wings quivering in excitement. I shook my head a bit at his excitement, but could not help but echo his grin in a smile of my own as I untied the red ribbon holding the scroll closed. Then, clenching my teeth and hoping for the best, I unrolled the scroll.

The scroll immediately dissolved into a great ball of light, which soon elongated and gained weight as it settled into my hands. I rapidly blinked away the black that danced across my vision from the sudden flash and gave a small sigh of relief as looked at the spear in my hands.

It was a fairly simple one, albeit sturdy-looking, and best of all? It was my height. I took it into my left hand and flipped it around, placing the weighted, metal-clad bottom on the wooden street beside me, inspecting the tip. It looked fairly normal, and the crossguard set before the metal gave way to black, glossy wood would surely be useful for deflecting weapons. Testing the edge and ignoring the HP bar blinking into existence warningly at the edge of my vision, I found it to be already sharpened to a razor's edge. I felt my lips tilting up into a smirk as I contained the urge to purr. Good.

Taking it into both my hands again and giving it a twirl, I found that the balance of it was surprisingly good, too, and while it would undoubtedly be a bit awkward to wield for a while, I would probably have my staff-techniques adjusted to it in no time.

I was interrupted from my appraising by the kid's exclamation;

"Whoa! It looks really awesome! Can I try?" I looked at him, and when I saw that he was serious, I quickly banished the spear to my inventory.

"Maybe some other time. We need to log off and get some real sleep, kiddo."

Like _hell_ I would let him get close to any type of melee weapon. If I did, he would probably get ideas about fighting alongside me on the front lines in no time.

"But we just got our classes and weapons! We can't stop _now_!" The sad face of doom was in action, and in this instance, if never again, I would admit to being a bit happy about having that hulking brute there to back me up as the ruffled the kid's hair.

"Come on, brat, stop being such an idiot. The demon's right; we need to let our brains rest for a bit." ...even if he was an impolite piece of shit who I would happily strangle to death if he did not start being nicer to the kid soon.

"Just a little bit longer? Please?"

"No. Now shut up and log off, or I will go on ahead to call home to your parents so that they can confiscate your helmet from you."

At that, the kid blustered and retrieved his bow from his back in a blink, whacking the brute over his head. Hard.

_Huh. Looks like he's getting stronger, isn't he, kitten?_

"Meanie! System command! Log off!"

Then, just like that, he dissolved into light and faded away. As the last of his light went out, I looked over at the brute, giving him my best glare.

"You could have been nicer about it."

"Maybe. But I didn't feel like it. See you around, bitch. System command; log off."

Growling, I also logged off, and while I knew that others saw it just as I had seen the others', for me it felt like I was falling into darkness, the world fading to black around me as my senses failed me. I pressed down a panic that was quickly growing familiar as I once again found myself in that state of helplessness before my senses returned to me and I could open my eyes to the darkness of my room.

Pulling off the gaming console disguised as a headband, I winced against a very real headache.

_I should have figured that it'd have consequences. Sorry kitten, I'll leave you to deal with this._

Adjusting myself into a slightly cooler spot on my cot, I let myself sink into sleep, knowing that the food bell would wake me soon enough.

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><p><strong>There! The end of this short and very late chapter... sorry about that. But as I said, next chappie will be on time! No writer's block will be able to stop me! Cross my heart. So we'll "see" each other in a couple of days ;)<strong>

**Unless you have read/watched One Piece feel like checking the flash-fic series I have written, of course. I'm publishing that at roughly the same time as I'm putting this chapter up.**

**Reviews make me very happy! But you might not want to leave just yet, as I have some very short omakes as an apology for the wait ;)**

**These are weapons that Pan might have received, had I felt like being a bit more mean to her ;)**

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><p><span>Scythe:<span>

The scroll immediately dissolved into a great ball of light, which soon elongated and gained weight as it settled into my hands. I rapidly blinked away the black that danced across my vision from the sudden flash and looked at the... _thing_ in my hands.

_What. The. Actual. Fuck. This isn't a weapon, it's a fucking harvesting tool! How the bloody hell am I supposed to use this?!_

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><p><span>Trident:<span>

The scroll immediately dissolved into a great ball of light, which soon elongated and gained weight as it settled into my hands. I rapidly blinked away the black that danced across my vision from the sudden flash and _stared_. The scroll had turned into a _pitchfork_. A _pitchfork_.

..._am I really supposed to be able to kill with this thing?_

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><p><span>Anti-cavalry pike:<span>

The scroll immediately dissolved into a great ball of light, which soon elongated and gained weight as it settled into my hands. I rapidly blinked away the black that danced across my vision from the sudden flash and looked at what I had received. And looked. And looked. And...

_Oh, there's the end._

Then I stood there for a couple of seconds, staring.

_This bloody thing must be eight meters long! How the fuck am I supposed to fight with this?!_

"You don't suppose that I could chop this thing off at a reasonable length without it becoming unusable, do you?"

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><p><strong>And now for the reply to the review Guest left for chapter 20! Guest left this review:<strong>

good story! :D  
>but where is another crown? you say lolidragon already met other kingqueen ist it? i really look for next update!  
>and many thank for fun story!<p>

**And now for my reply! :D**

**Thank you! :D I am very glad that you like my story! :D _Some_ of the other crowns (I can't promise that I will show/use all of them) will show up at a later point, and yes, many of the new kings and queens have interacted with Lolidragon :) Here's the next update; I'm sorry for being late! ;_;**


	22. Broken

**I want to thank Vagabond Soul, Greatazuredragon, Vendelareader, krad09, EarthTheLurker and AmberTales for reviewing chapter 21! :D You guys (and gals) made me so happy that you wouldn't ****_believe_**** when you brought me up to and past the "100 reviews" mark! :DDD I seriously never thought that this story would go so far when I first began it... but I am very happy that I was wrong! :D *******throws a mini celebration with cybercookies and glitter******* I'm dedicating today to answering my PMs and reviews, so you should hear from me soon if you haven't yet ^^"**

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><p><strong>This... is terribly late. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, I swear! TT-TT<strong>

**_Pleasedon'tbemadatme!_**

*****chucks shiny new chapter at you as I run off to hide*********

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I d<strong>**o in no way, shape or form own ½ Prince; I only write this story for fun and the only type of gain that I am making off of it are in the form of follows, favs, reviews and nice conversations with my readers :) Excellent ego boosters, all of them :3**

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><p>Chapter 22:<p>

Broken

_Laughter. Safety. The comforting presence of my brother beside me, Rizza sitting opposite, a teasing smirk on her face as she poked Father with her fork, Mother watching it from her end of the table, smiling._

_It all disappeared; shattered and fell away, blood on my hands as they lay still about me, dead, dead, dead._

_I didn't care, and I stumbled, fell, faded._

_Darkness._

_Where am I?_

_What is this place?_

_Why can't I feel anything?_

_But then I could. Warm arms around me and the frantic flap-flap-flap of wings, darkness draining away below us as we flew up, up, up._

_We landed, feet lightly touching ground._

_Robin was sad._

_He was crying._

_Why was he crying?_

_What had happened?_

_Was it my fault?_

_I tried to ask, but my voice wouldn't come._

_I tried to reach out, but I was too far away._

_I tried to move, but shackles sprung up around my feet, chaining them to the floor of the raft._

_Turning around, I wasn't alone. Someone else was there, with her back to me, curled up and giggling, laughing, screaming._

_Rizza?_

_No, someone else._

_We – no, I, because she was gone, she hadn't been there in the first place, she hadn't been real (I wasn't real?)._

_I was alone, abandoned, adrift, the lights of Delta vanishing in the distance as the stormy seas carried me further and further and further out. The wind whipped up, forcing the waves higher and higher and higher. The raft turned, tipped, and sank. I was chained, stuck, couldn't break free._

_Did not want to break free._

_The water embraced me, calmed me, called to me._

_I did not want to move._

_Couldn't I be left alone?_

_Why were they trying to pull me out?_

_Who were they?_

_I felt that I knew them, somehow, but I could not recognize their faces. Giving up, I let myself drift back out into the sea._

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><p>I awoke to a headache, and a bad one at that. I had half a mind to just whimper and roll over so that I could go back to sleep when the smell of my breakfast hit me and I realized that I would have to get up and face the day. Sighing, I started getting up, but paused as a wave of... <em>something<em> washed over me.

_What is this feeling?_

_Why?_

_What happened?_

_Why..._

_Why am I feeling this way?!_

_...what is wrong...?_

_What is wrong with me?!_

_Please._

_...just... please._

_Why?_

I do not know how long I stayed there, crying, frozen and... _scared_. Something was wrong – really wrong – but I had no idea of what, just that it _was_, and it terrified me. I couldn't help the whimper that slipped out as time seemed to start up again and I sank back down onto the bed.

_What is this?_

It was almost like what I had felt earlier, in _Second Life_, but... _worse._ The new dimensions and colours were gone, leaving me with nothing but the feeling of...

_Loss. That's what this is._

Identifying the feeling did not make me feel any better, however. In fact, it actually made me feel worse, as if knowing the feeling brought it into sharper focus.

_Why?_

_Why would I feel loss?_

_I haven't even lost anything, so why can't I stop crying?_

Wiping away my tears, I just stared at where they lay glittering on my hand for a while, sad and confused.

Confusion soon started giving way to detachment, however, and sadness to emptiness. I knew what was happening, and that I should stop it unless I wanted to make Theron sad, but I just couldn't bring myself to care. It was... nice, being able to just slip away from that uncanny feeling for a bit.

To be blank.

I took a deep breath and wiped away the last of the tears, standing. I needed to eat my breakfast. Walking over to the shaft, I discovered that the food had already become cold. Paying it no mind, I ate it all before going to get dressed.

I was just putting up my hair into the long ponytail that Rizza favoured when the rare message tone resounded throughout the speaker system. Cocking my head, I waited for the incoming message.

**"******I've received permission to let you out, so come up to my lab.******"**

Reyforth.

Knowing that it would be futile, and that it was none of my business, anyway, I did not question why he had received access to the comm; I simply registered the command and gave my outfit one last look. Having reassured myself that everything was in order, I made my way to the door, which opened upon my approach and then closed itself behind me once I was out. Climbing up the steps and stepping out into the corridor, I heard the passageway close and blend into the floor once more.

Turning, I headed off through the corridors, the path second nature due to my many visits. Reaching the correct door, I knocked twice before entering, resisting the familiar urge to wrinkle my nose at the smell.

This time, I did not have to search for Reyforth; he was waiting for me.

"Ah! There's my favourite specimen! How lovely. Now, come with me, I have a perfect work station set up just over here so that we can see how your wounds are coming along. I expect the arm is still giving you trouble?"

"Yes."

"Ah, yes, of course. I thought so. Nasty business, that. It will probably take a long while to heal, even for you... which is how I gained permission to try my new experiment out on you! Now, don't worry, it's already through the test phrase and should work smoothly; I wouldn't risk such a fine specimen as you on testing something as mundane as this. I'm just sorry that I couldn't use this immediately after you got shot; it would have been so much better. But what is done is done, and what matters is that I can use it now! I must admit that I am looking forward to what results this test will yield, as none of my other subjects had a natural healing rate as fast as yours."

At that, we rounded a blue refrigerator covered in chains and locks and came upon some kind of metal contraption. It looked fairly similar to some kind of x-ray machine, just bigger and much more complicated.

"Ah! There she is! Isn't she just such a beauty! Not my greatest project of course, but I do believe that I have found a most elegant solution in this field. It's mostly thanks to you, really; if I hadn't had the time to study your advanced healing process, I shudder to think of how long this would have taken to complete. But I had, so it is not an issue; let us therefore get to the point. Report on the current damage to your body and the origin of it in decreasing order of priority."

"Bullet wound from expanding bullet in right forearm, bite wound on left forearm, a 10 centimetre long cut from a knife on left side by the sixth and seventh ribs, extensive bruising from a fall in training on left hip, remaining bruising from a kick on left thigh, remaining bruising on right shoulder from a punch, remaining bruising on upper stomach from a punch, minor scratches from nails on both arms and negligible scratches from wooden splinters throughout the body of ages four and two days."

Pausing slightly, I went through the state of my body mentally to make sure that I had not missed anything and came up with nothing... but the headache. I had to carefully restrain myself from stiffening as I realized that it had never left, and yet I had had no thought to show, mention or report it despite the fact that Reyforth was the one responsible for my physical well-being and should as such be informed of all irregularities in my physical state. However, even as I made a concious effort to say it, I could not open my mouth.

"Is that all?"

"Yes, it is." No it is not.

"Very well, I'll patch you right up, then! I'll leave the scratches alone, though, since they aren't impeding you and will heal up soon enough on their own, anyway. No use wasting energy, as that is the one thing that I cannot seem to get into proper working order. Or well, not the energy. The energy consumption. The supply is working properly, but _something_ in the process is consuming it at an unnatural rate, and the worst thing is that I can't find out what it is! It is highly frustrating, not to mention that it makes the usage of the device extremely restricted. Even with Lilith heading the leading family on _Nereus_, there is only so much power we can divert from his main grids, apparently. I've tried to increase it by designing some new turbines and wave energy plants, but I have to give credit to his original designer; _Nereus _is just about as effective as he can be already. Too bad the man had to die; he could have been extremely useful. But look at me, rambling on. We need to get you treated. Strip and get onto that bunk, and I'll roll you inside. The hatch will close after you, but you just need to relax and let her work; she knows what she is doing. Not so strange, considering that I built her!"

He laughed and flung himself into a seat behind some kind of control panel in his usual haphazard way, manipulating it and sending the machine whirring into life as I removed my clothing and lay down on the metallic slab. My back tingled from the cold, but I resisted the urge to clench my muscles for warmth; Reyforth had told me to relax.

As soon as I was settled, the slab started moving, barely making a sound as it slid into the main part of the contraption. As it stopped, I heard the hatch at my feet click closed, enveloping me in darkness. Seeing as my eyes were useless in this environment, I closed them and my body automatically refocused on my other senses, particularly my sense of touch.

At first, I could discern nothing but the cold metal I was laying on and the faint air streams circulating through the contraption, but as it whirred to life around me, I felt my whole body start to prickle, as if a faint drizzle had started. I would have dismissed it as nothing but some kind of healing fluid unless it had started up from underneath, too, despite the fact that I was laying on a bunk I had confirmed to be of solid metal. I almost tensed up before I remembered Reyforth's words and forcibly relaxed myself again.

From that point onward, I constantly had to keep myself under control, because the feeling steadily grew worse until it felt like I was jabbed by countless of red-hot needles while encased in ice. It appeared to reach a limit there, though, as the feeling started concentrating around my wounds and fading elsewhere.

Emptying my mind, I waited until the sensation had completely disappeared and I heard the latch slide open again. Cautiously opening my eyes, I let them get adjusted to the light again before I was rolled out into the glare of Reyforth's lab. As the bunk stopped, I sat up cautiously, taking note of any and all changes in my physical state as I did so.

"So, how are you feeling? Better? Different? Your process went much quicker than that of any other subjects', something which I expect has to do with your natural healing rate; after all, even if one uses the same multiplier, the result will be greater if used on a greater base number. Even so, I don't know if hurrying the process alters it, so we'll do a basic examination now – I sadly don't have time for much else, no matter how fascinating you are – and then I'll pull you in for a closer look soon; either tomorrow, the day after... or the day after that. It depends a bit on when Lilith lets me borrow you, honestly, as well as how one of my other current projects develop." As he talked, Reyforth had walked over from the control station and was now examining me critically. "Let's run through the first and second pattern to make sure everything is in working order, shall we? Put some clothes on again, and we'll make our way over to the training station."

Nodding, I resigned myself to be poked and prodded for the next couple of hours. It was a good thing that the machine appeared to have worked; performing two training/examination patterns wounded would not have been easy.

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><p>I judged it to be somewhere in the late afternoon by the time Reyforth dismissed me back to my room, muscles aching and stomach clamouring for food. Reyforth, in his usual manner, had forgotten that all living beings need sustenance every now and again. I would have to eat as soon as I came back.<p>

Making my way along the corridors, forcing my body to move smoothly despite its protests, I contemplated taking another route when I heard footsteps up ahead. Deciding that the cons of having to explain my deviation from my normal behaviour patterns as well as the extra time a detour would add to my route outweighed the pros of avoiding whomever it was approaching from beyond a corner up ahead, I continued on my current route.

It proved to be the correct decision, as it was nothing but a maid carrying new bedding up to the rest of the household from the laundry rooms. Sweeping past her after confirming that she was indeed a legitimate member of the staff, I was soon at my rooms. Opening the entrance after ensuring that no-one was nearby, I once again took the opportunity to appreciate my healed arm, even if the appearance of the machine that had facilitated the change in its state would likely mean that I would run more missions in the future, with shorter rest periods.

Opening up the last door, I was suddenly swept off my feet with the sound of warm laughter.

"Kitten! There you are! I've missed you!"

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><p><strong><strong>*cautiously peeks out*<strong>**

****Sooooo... stuff happened ^^" Nothing big or life-changing in any way; just enough for me to become a bit too lazy to finish this filler-ish chapter earlier. And then, when I finally started writing, I ran into a writer's block ^^" Again; I am so terribly sorry for that. I shall try to better myself and have the next chapter up within 2 weeks.****

****On a more positive note; my spellcheck is back into working order! :DDD I am so insanely glad for that, as it is extremely annoying to spellcheck entire chapters manually in addition to the usual proofreading (no, they are not the same thing)... -_-" Still, no program is perfect, and I am just one human, so faults may very well have snuck in there anyway. If you spot one, I would very much appreciate you telling me :)****

****Aaaaaand... I now have a beta I can bother when I get stuck and need a second opinion on my ideas! :D He is awesome, and one of two reasons you didn't have to wait another month for this, frankly ^^" The other reason is that two of my lovely readers, krad09 and Vagabond Soul, were sweethearts and dropped me a PM each to see if I was still alive. Send them all some cyberhugs. They deserve them.****

****Reviews make me a very happy fish (even if I might not deserve them after breaking a promise like that...), and I promise an extra cybercookie (with milk, for those who want!) for those who can figure out what it is that is wrong with Tigris! ;)****


	23. Theron

**I want to thank Vagabond Soul, EarthTheLurker (sorry about the update that did not come any sooner this time, and I hope you have relocated your password), Greatazuredragon and krad09 for reviewing chapter 22 after my long pause! :D Cookies, hugs and sneaky mention to you! (I'll try to get around to replies sometime this week ^^")**

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><p><strong>I am terribly, terribly sorry for the lateness of this chapter. I blame blatant favouritism. To be perfectly honest, Theron is my favourite character aside from Tigris. I was so nervous about writing him into the story actively (instead of just "off-screen", so to speak) for the first time that I think I spent an average of half an hour per paragraph in this chapter to make sure that everything was <strong>**_exactly_**** like I wanted it to be (not to mention all the time I spent doing other things entirely as a way to ****_avoid_**** writing – and consequently maybe screwing Theron up – this chapter)... that's not any sort of guarantee that I suceeded, though. You'd never guess it from the state the rest of my life tends to be in, but apparently I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to this story... -_-" If only that could be carried over to the updating dates, too...**

**Annoying illogical perfectionist tendencies aside, though, Tigris is apparently ticklish. I never knew.**

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><p><strong>WARNING: Shameless sibling fluff?<strong>

**Disclaimer: I d****o in no way, shape or form own the awesome goofiness that is ½ Prince (because if I did, it wouldn't be so goofy); I only write this fanfic for fun and am making no profit - except possibly in my ego and writing skills - from it ;)**

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><p>Chapter 23:<p>

Theron

"Kitten! There you are! I've missed you!" I tensed before the pure familiarity of the situation dawned on me and I blinked down the smiling man.

"Brother."

His smile faded from his face as he put me down and put his hands on my shoulders, holding me at arms length with a soft frown and pinched eyes, looking me over.

"Hey." The strange look was gone, and a small smile made its way back briefly before fading away.

_Why?_

"How are you feeling?"

"Better?" Immediately after speaking, though, I realized that that should not have been a question; I was fully aware of my physical state. Seeking to correct my statement, I drew myself up straight to answer properly. "Vincent Reyforth called me out to his lab and healed all damage acquired during, between and after the last two missions assigned to me, so I am fine."

The soft smile was back again, even if there was still something pinched about his eyes.

"Good. I was worried for you, Tigris."

_No..._

"I apologize for worrying you."

_Wrong!_

I found myself frozen as he pulled me into another hug, gentler this time. There was something odd about his voice when he next spoke, his words vibrating against my scalp.

"You don't have to apologize to me, Tigris. I thought I already told you that."

My voice became muffled as I answered from where I was nestled against his chest.

"You did."

_No!_

At that, he pulled away with a chuckle and a big grin, ruffling my dyed caramel brown hair in what might have been an effort to make it match his own permanently tousled chocolate mop.

"Great! Just checking! We can't have you forgetting stuff, now can we? You already seem old enough with all those white hairs of yours without us adding dementia to the list, don't you think?"

At that, something within me broke; all the feelings I had been shoving away and locking up ever since morning burst through the dam I had put up for them, rushing over me. Because this was _wrong_. Theron was _not_ supposed to be sad.

_And I am making him sad. I am making Theron sad. I'm making him force that smile onto his face when he doesn't want to. It's __wrong__._

I felt my limbs quivering as Theron continued as if nothing was wrong, even if I could see, if I could _hear _that he was hurting_._

"Anyway, what did you think about the present? You did open it, right? Because I'll have you know that I won't take it back even if you didn't!"

_Why...? Why do you keep doing this, Theron? Why are you hurting for my sake? I don't want you to! Stop! Please... just stop._

Ignoring my blurred sight and Theron's words – _they aren't happy, even if they sound happy, because I know that they aren't, not really_ – I threw my arms around him, colliding into his chest.

"Oof... easy there, Tigris... I'm not as durable as- hey, what's wrong?"

I gave a weak laugh, my thoughts tumbling along with all my confused emotions.

"_What's wrong?" I don't know! I __don't know__, and it's scaring me! And because I don't know, because I am scared, I hurt you! That's what's wrong! I hurt you, and I'm scared, and I'm confused, and something has happened to me, something is wrong with me, but I __don't know what__! _I fought down the urge to whimper, because that would only make Theron even more upset.

_Please..._

I had no idea what I was even begging for, nor whom I was begging it from; I just knew that I could not handle this on my own, and neither could I burden Theron with it. I just... felt so _helpless._

_Please._

Out loud, I simply said; "You used way too much tape, Theron." At that, he startled before laughing and threw his arms around me again, holding me tight against his solid frame. I could feel his laughter, his joy, reverberating through both our bodies and relaxed against him, a tension that I had not even noticed that I had held slowly bleeding out of me.

Theron was home.

Theron was home, and everything was going to be alright.

He always made everything alright again.

For the first time since the fight against the Sky King, I felt safe.

As long as I had Theron...

Nothing could really hurt me.

He would not let it, and in return...

I will do anything for him.

To keep him alive, to keep him safe, to keep him happy.

That – and more – was what he did for me, so it seemed only fair that I return the favour.

For now, however, nothing was really threatening either of us, so we could just relax in each others' presence. It had been too long since we had last been able to do that. Something had always come in the way due to the fact that negotiations for the annexation of a fourth floating city, _Minato_, to the seafaring metropolis Delta were under way. As the heir to the Grane family and all its resources, Theron had to be present for the majority of the proceedings, which meant that he did not get much downtime.

"Hey! Don't insult my present-wrapping skills, Kitten! Their feelings could get hurt, you know! What if they decide to go on a strike? Or abandon me? I'd never be able to wrap another present ever again!"

…

_What?_

Despite having known Theron for so long, some of the things he said still managed to catch me off guard due the simple fact that the most illogical, ridiculous and impossible things tended to cross his lips.

_How would that even be possible...?_

As usual when I drew a blank to one of his statements, however, he startled me out of my thoughts by swiftly stabbing my sides with his fingers, causing me to jump away from him with a high, strangled sound getting stuck somewhere halfway up my throat.

"Theron!" To my immense displeasure, my voice had still not recovered, leaving my warning sounding much less threatening than I would have liked. This, of course, resulted in Theron grinning at me, putting no effort at all into hiding his smugness at my reaction. Deciding to leave my traitorous voice be for the moment, I simply gave him my best glare in return.

As his grin simply grew even wider in response, I suddenly found myself missing the jellies. For all their other faults and eye searing colours, they had at least had the sense to quiver and take cover when I glared at them.

"Sorry kitten, but I can't help it; you're just too adorable when you do that!" I restrained the urge to hiss at him as I ducked away from what appeared to be another assault, putting my cot in between us and keeping a cautious eye out for any suspicious movements on his part. As he launched across the cot, I was ready and sidestepped out of his reach. In my preoccupation to keep my sides and stomach out of his reach, though, I missed how he grabbed my wrist until I was already half-sprawled over the cot and Theron crowed triumphantly beside me, his free hand descending menacingly towards me, fingers dancing dangerously.

"Ah-ha! Behold, how the devilishly handsome knight conquers his deadly foe! Let it be known henceforth to never underestimate the power of- hey!"

Seeing the fingers approach ever so slowly, I quickly decided that it was not in my best interest to let him finish that monologue and twisted around to get away, slipping down entirely onto the floor. It did not work out quite as I had expected it to, however; in my rush to get away, I had managed to drag Theron with me, seeing as he still had a grip on my wrist. He was by no means fat – always insisting that "knights always have to be prepared to fight any dragon which comes a-flying their way", which I had come to understand was Theron-speak for "I need to be fit in case something happens" - but muscles are heavier than fat, and he was as such quite heavy despite his slender-looking frame.

As my breath was forced out of my body, I consoled myself with the highly undignified yelp my brother had let out on his way down. That, and the fact that he surrendered once he joined me in my human heap.

"Truce?"

Huffing, I threw him off before answering, earning myself a half-hearted grumble before he rolled away onto his back next to me in a weak imitation of a starfish as I untangled my own limbs.

"Truce."

For a while, we just lay there on the floor, calming our breathing, before he intertwined his hands and propped them up underneath his head, looking over at me.

"Soooo... you opened it?" I closed my eyes and nodded.

"Mm."

"And...? Did you try it?"

"Mm." I could feel the heat creeping up my face (I really, _really_ did not like accepting gifts when I had no way to reciprocate, especially when it came to wonderful gifts such as this one) as I answered, but nevertheless found a small smile from forming on my lips as I rolled onto my side to face him. _Second Life_ was... wonderful. It seemed a bit insufficient to only describe it as such, but I could not find a better word at the moment. The sunshine, the wind, the forest, the rolling fields, the _freedom_. It truly _was_ wonderful. At Theron's expectant gaze, my smile widened as I told him as much. It did not even take a split second for a boyish grin to spread across his features after that.

"Awesome! I _knew _you'd like it! My cute little sister deserves only the best, after all!" At that, he reached over and ruffled my hair, causing me to find myself with a severely impaired vision and mouthful of caramel strands at my protest. Glaring at the vaguely human-shaped blob from behind the curtain, I tried – and failed – to blow it away a couple of times before I resigned myself to having to move and brushed it away. Seeing the face I was making, Theron pouted (my brother is, as of yet, the only grown man I have ever seen who can pull off a convincing pout without making himself look ridiculous in the process) and whined. "Aww, don't make that face, kitty... it's not my fault that your hair is so nice and fluffy! It's irresistible! And addictive! I have been suffering from withdrawals with how much dad has been dragging me about lately, I swear." Seeing the glare falling away from my face as I caved – I had never been able to stay upset with him for very long, no matter the cause for the upset – he continued on, sitting up and switching topics as he went. "So what specie did you choose, anyway? Did you get your class yet? Have you found any friends? Killed any monsters? What'd you think about the slimes?"

As he paused to draw breath and to come up with more questions, I swiftly interjected my answers, knowing that it would just become harder for me to answer the longer I let him continue.

"I chose to be a Mountain Demon, and I guess I got a class... even if it isn't really _my_ class?" Frowning and scratching my neck, not really understanding how to explain the whole warrior/beastwarrior thing, I continued. "I think I have a friend... maybe two? And maybe a sort-of friend-that-isn't, too?" Yes, Robin could probably be counted as a friend, even if I had my doubts about Mira – while I wanted her as a friend, I was not entirely sure if I could count her as one yet, seeing as we did not really know each other all that well – and even stronger ones about Wrath. If Wrath _could_ be counted as a friend – which I really did not think he could – then Cato would probably count as a friend, too, as he had been much nicer to me than Wrath, but Cato _really _did not feel like a friend, not to mention that he was an NPC... was it even possible to be friends – _real _friends – with an NPC, seeing as all they really were was a bunch of computer code? _But Robin certainly seems to count Cato as a friend..._ Shaking my head slightly, I decided to leave the confusing topic behind. "I did kill some monsters – some kind of vulture-lizard, slimes, wolves and a hawk boss – and the slimes were... stupid. And bright?" Yes, stupid and bright seemed like a good enough description for the strange, sharp-toothed jellies. Most of them, anyway. There were some which were a bit duller in colour and/or had the sense to flee, but the were more of an "exception which proves the rule" case. My musings were interrupted by Theron's disgruntled reply.

"That's not a proper answer! Come on now, Tigris – _details_! I have been stuck in boring meetings for _ages_. I need entertainment!" I threw Theron a _look_. He was pouting again, but I was not entirely sure about how to feel about being viewed as entertainment. As I was considering whether to ignore that detail and just give in or not, I could almost _see_ the thoughts running across his face before he blurted out; "Wait, hold on a second. Did you just say _boss_?" At my confused nod – I knew that the Sky King was not exactly a common occurrence, but for all Theron knew, I could just as well have been battling an ordinary field boss, so I did not quite understand his reaction. "That not fair! I was playing for _weeks_ before I ran into any kind of boss!" He exclaimed with an uncoordinated flail of his arms before he crossed them over his chest.

_Oh. That explains it._

Before I could formulate any kind of reply, though, Theron redirected the subject into a more blow-by-blow account of my time in _Second Life,_ and I found myself being able to forget and ignore the strange echoing emptiness within me as I smiled and joked and laughed with him.

Theron was home, and that meant everything was going to be alright, no matter what I had felt before then.

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><p><strong><strong>My beta, who has been doing a wonderful job of helping me get my lazy ass into gear with the writing of this chapter, tells me that the underlining in Tigris' thoughts is ugly. I agree. Thing is, I write thoughts in <strong>****_**italic**_******, and Tigris has a penchant for one-word thoughts. Thus, I cannot simply put them into normal text to emphasize them, as most writers do, as that would confuse her thoughts with the narrative text. As such, I decided to ********underline******** words when I wanted to emphasize something in her thoughts – that is, ******_**italicizing words that are **_****_**already**_****_** in italic.**_**

**…******now, I am not the best at explaining myself, so I may just have confused you further with that ^^" As such, I shall stop writing before I make it worse.****

****Despite how bad I am at replying and getting new chapters out, reviews still make me really, really happy and put a big, goofy smile on my face... so please leave one? Pretty please?****


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